Porn Star Austin Wilde Quits Raging Stallion Over HIV Testing Concerns

Popular gay porn performer Austin Wilde is in the news. The triple x muscle hotness who was voted Raging Stallion "Man of the Year" has left that studio for internet-based NextDoor.

Wilde expressed concerns over HIV in the gay porn industry, saying too many performers are testing positive and  that he now requires his screen partners to be tested for HIV, according to an interview in The Sword.

"Steamworks was my last movie, which was shot back in April/May, I believe. Around that time I had been finding out about a few people becoming HIV positive—both in and out of the industry. It was a wake-up call and a turnoff from sex for me all around. So instead of bringing my personal issues to the set and possibly giving Raging Stallion a bad performance, I decided to back out of the movie and take a few months to myself. ...

"I've recently started requiring my scene partners to be tested. While a test may not detect something contracted a month prior to getting tested, having your scene partners tested is NOT a complete waste of time. That month's time is A LOT less than six months or a lifetime of never being tested. So requiring a scene partner to be tested may not eliminate your chances of doing a scene with someone with an STD/HIV, but it significantly lessens it."

Austin Wilde's announcement comes at the same time there is panic in the adult industry around the so-called "Patient Zero", described as a "male performer who performed in both straight and gay adult videos" and tested positive. A number of adult performers may have been exposed and were quarantined, reports AVN. "AVN also learned that at least one production company has postponed its scheduled production [two weeks ago] in order for proper quarantine procedures and performer clearances to run their course."

In the summer of 2009, "at least 16 additional unpublicized cases of HIV" were confirmed in gay and straight adult film performers. The cases bring renewed scrutiny to the industry's long history of resisting condom use in straight porn. They also bring heightened awareness to bareback gay porn and studios that employ performers for condom and bareback gay scenes.

For someone that has sex for a living, reducing the risk of STD and HIV infection can be considerable. But on a practical level, it's worth asking if Wilde also requires HIV certification from his personal or "professional" off-screen partners. In any event, kudos to Austin Wilde.

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Comments

[Antwan]

"it's worth asking if Austin Wilde also requires HIV certification from his personal or "professional" off-screen partners ..."

My thoughts exactly! If he's escorting or has any type of hook up, even if he plays safe, does he demand and HIV test? Probably not.

And could this be about money? Maybe the studio refused to pay him more, just sayin.

[Antwan]

And OMG is Austin Wilde HOTTT!

[Will Saunders]

This is good that he's taking this stance. Lots of porn stars have passed on due to AIDS. I remember the first porn star I used to regularly watch was TJ Swann, who died of AIDS. Since the management of these porn companies aren't all taking a strong stance, the performers need to do so.

[Black Pegasus]

Well, thank goodness these yummy looking men are willing to entertain millions of people thru uninhibited sex on film. But some of these guys are starting to look nasty as hell! You can tell that some of them are sick with some type of STD or worse.

Mr. Wilde needs to stack his cash and continue to demand safe practices.

PS: Has Mr. Wilde ever performed with a BLACK GUY? If he's just another Snow Queen like Jeremy Tucker and washed up Matthew Rush, I could give a damn about his endeavors.

[Harper]

Porn stars, Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry and gay rights. I am loving today's lineup Rod, work it out boy!

[FREELEO]

I hope it's exactly what he says it is. Watching people bareback in porn is not a turn on for every one. I can't watch it. When ever it occurs, I can't help thinking to myself, here's another brother passing or about to get hiv.

If it is as he described then he should be commended.

[Dante]

i admire austin wilde for being more proactive about hiv in is work. i've heard that he escorts so i wonder does he ask his tricks this too? humph

and what pegasus said, he is hot but a snow queen fa sho. next!

[24-play]

Austin's story doesn't add up to me. He's not telling the whole truth.

[Liberator Émigré Éire]

@ Black Pegasus...

Snow Queen? Sure he's "black enough" to be a "snow queen"...?

Like "washed up" Matthew Rush (bet you wished you looked as good as he still does), Austin's choice of sexual partners isn't an invitation for racial abuse... Oh, what the hell, you just keep the fires of separatism burning! Break out the James Earl Hardy novels, it's 1995 all over again!

(Incidentally, plenty of people used to denigrate Rush in his Falcon days for not appearing with "black" partners. Subsequently, he appeared on PapiThugz, and with Eddie Diaz on DominicFord...)

What's wrong Pegasus, shunned by one too many mixed light-skinned fellas? Hell hath no fury like a bitch scorned...

[mjolnir202]

Great points all. Yeah, the story is a little weird. I've seen Raging Stallion Films and even know someone who's worked for them and they don't do bareback. As others have pointed out, I doubt that Austin Wilde is having all of his tricks do a mouth swab and waiting 20 minutes for the OraSure to come back negative before he gets down. What's the difference between that and a porn set?

I also doubt that most porn performers got HIV on a porn film. They were probably already infected when they got there. I've known more than a few people who didn't get infected from an anonymous trick, but from their 'trusted' partners who were doing everyone else without a condom.

This reminds me that I'm due for a test myself. Off to Whitman-Walker tomorrow.

Also, not only should sexually active gay men be regularly tested (twice a year) for HIV, we should be tested for other STDs as well. This is particularly true for black gay men. STD rates are extremely high in the black community in general and being infected with herpes, gonorrhea, syphillis, etc. dramtically increases your risk of contracting HIV. You can be infected with multiple STDs and never know it show any symptoms. This is one of the many reason for sky high black HIV rates.

Get tested today. I know it's nerve racking. I worry and have diarrhea every time even when I haven't had sex in months, but it's a necessity. PLEASE GET TESTED!

[alberto]

Maybe it's time to promote safe sex in gay porn as well...

[Austin Wilde]

To the guys that stand behind my PERSONAL decision to switch studios, thank you. To the others that "hear" stuff and assume its the truth, well, good luck with that strategy in life.

No I don't escort. And if I have a "trick", no, I don't require them to get tested before. However, I know for a fact that the rate of HIV in the adult film industry is high and switching to a studio that requires testing was to make ME feel better. Numbers are completely irrelevant as this was a choice for MY life, not anything requiring anyone else to do anything. ME. The only one I made this decision for.

While obviously contracting STDs are a risk we take by doing this line of work, taking any steps to prevent this is in our best interest. So that's what I'm doing.

This whole "HIV scare" that everyone concluded was the sole reason for my leaving, well, wasn't. Sure it was a part of my short "break" I took. But that, on top of the offer I got from Next Door studios to sign and start my own website helped make my decision. On top of just wanting a change in general.

We all know this world revolves around money. Clearly I'll be getting paid more. And would have been an idiot not to accept it. Especially since Next Door Studios is a GREAT company to work with.

Any other questions/speculations?