The XBIZ Awards held on January 11 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, CA, paid tribute to the adult industry’s best and brightest, with a gala red carpet event and elegant awards presentation.
Midway through the evening’s festivities, a fundraiser was staged on behalf of two adult industry nonprofits, Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and Adult Sites Against Child Pornography (ASACP). A call-to-action was issued from the stage by industry leaders XBIZ founder Alec Helmy, Girlfriend Films’ VP Moose, MetArt founder Amnon Lisbona and FSC CEO Diane Duke, on behalf of FSC’s opposition to the Los Angeles County “Safer Sex” in Adult Productions ordinance (Measure B), as well as ASACP’s efforts against child pornography on the Internet.
The following adult companies donated during the fundraiser: XBIZ, Adam & Eve, Orbital Pay, The Screaming O, AEBN, ATKingdom, Fleshlight, MetArt, Springtown, Mansion Productions, Brazzers, California Exotic Novelties, Clips4Sale, Eldorado Trading Co., FUBAR Magazine, Gamelink, Girlfriend Films, HotMovies, Mobius Payments, MojoHost, New Sensations, Paradise Marketing, SexToy.com and Venus. Adult performers Sunny Lane, Sophie Dee and Bonnie Rotten also donated, bringing contributions to $40,7000.
An additional surprise pushed contributions over-the-top when it was announced that an anonymous donor had agreed to match the contributed amount, bringing the evening’s total to more than $80,000.
“It’s not often that the industry is brought together in a unified show of support, but FSC appreciates the opportunity presented by the XBIZ Awards, Alec Helmy, Moose from Girlfriend Films and Amnon at Met Art, and we are very grateful to all the businesses and individuals that donated to both of these important industry organizations. The money goes to support FSC programs and legal efforts,” FSC’s Duke commented.
XBIZ’s Helmy later stated, “We were honored to provide a special forum to raise funds for these two critically important industry organizations. We want to express our sincere gratitude to both FSC and ASACP for all they do to protect our industry.”