Legrand Wolf, the co-founder of Carnal Media, is on the phone to discuss the dual launches of streaming service Carnal+ as well as the company’s latest role-play fantasy site and has just spent a large chunk of the conversation explaining the rich and fascinating history of freemasonry.
Wolf and his husband and business partner, Jay, first came to prominence in adult following the launch, and explosive growth, of the MormonBoyz property more than a decade ago, which they no longer manage. However, following the conclusion of a protracted and painful period of legal turmoil over the site and its content, the thoughtful, erudite Wolf has finally returned with eager enthusiasm to his roots with MasonicBoys.com — thus the deep dive during his interview into freemasonry.
We are competitive with everyone out there. But the difference is our content is made by gay men, for gay men — and anyone who likes gay content.
“Freemasonry is the father of Mormonism. Indeed, modern Mormonism is entirely borrowed from other traditions, and is the somewhat boring version of ancestral secret societies," Wolf explained.
“MasonicBoys powerfully captures the eroticism of the older male-younger male dynamic. The rites of passage are sexually charged and presented just as we originally produced them," he revealed. "Because our original site ignored nearly all elements of corporate Mormonism and focused on its Masonic roots, the narrative and rituals on our relaunched site are the same. But now there’s an added layer because this element is richer and much older than Mormonism itself."
Longtime fans will recognize the familiar sets and costumes and even some of the performers, many of whom are now Carnal Media exclusives. The heralded arrival of MasonicBoys serves as attractive teaser for the launch of the Carnal+ streaming service, which has gone live with 10 of the company’s notable fetish-oriented web properties, among them AmateursDotIt, FunSizeBoys, Growlboys, JasonSparksLive, TwinkTop and prominent FTM trans paysite JockPussy.
The remaining Carnal Media properties are set to join the service shortly after its formal launch; it’s a ballsy move from a pair known for taking big swings, considering the company itself is not quite three years old and was born from the acquisition of the all-male GunzBlazing affiliate network in 2018.
“It feels fantastic to be able to just say, ‘We’re back,’” Wolf said. “People in the industry have known us forever as the ‘Mormon Boys,’ Legrand and Jay. When we got into industry everyone thought, ‘What’s Mormon porn?’ Of course, it wasn’t ‘Mormon porn.’ The thinnest veneer of Mormonism is there to tell a ‘daddy-son’ story. And daddy-son porn has been around forever in gay porn.”
“This is just really elegant daddy-son porn that has a cult-y vibe, an ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ vibe to it. And that vibe comes from its Masonic roots,” he added.
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was a freemason, Wolf explained. Most of the temple rituals — including “having men and women get fully nude and then having their bodies anointed and washed” — are Masonic in origin and “were adopted quite effectively” by the Mormon church, including donning the infamous “magic Mormon underwear” with its intricate symbology.
Wolf served an apprenticeship and subsequently joined a lodge and understands the modern iteration of Freemasonry. “It’s a very different thing and a bit boring in its own way [today],” he noted. “I think it has come to represent a lot of the fraternal brotherhoods that existed in Europe; a lot of the sex clubs of Scotland and Great Britain are represented in the general psyche by Freemasonry.”
As word spread among ardent fans about the launch of MasonicBoys, Wolf adds that he was deeply moved by “an emotional video” that had just arrived from a longtime fan who explained how the original site helped him come to terms with his sexuality and introduced him to a new world of possibilities.
Wolf understands that many adult filmmakers have had similar interactions. “But this is a fan I’d never heard from before who felt very connected [to the original site] and was reaching out. I’ve heard from so many fans that they are just hungry and ready for [this],” he said.
MasonicBoys serves as an attractive teaser for the launch of the Carnal+ streaming service, which Wolf described as “the Disney+ of porn — all of our sites under one umbrella, for one price.”
“The reason these services exist and have series, or ‘channels,’ that are released within them is that people are hungry for a service that caters to a particular thing they’re looking for — and doesn’t give them a variety show of completely unpredictable content [like] a tube site, but instead has [regular] series that you love,” he said. “If you subscribe to Disney+ you might not want to see everything, but [they might] have four or five series that make it very worth it. Some people even subscribe to these streaming services for just one thing. Ultimately, you know when you click on ‘Marvel,’ you know you’re getting your [full] Marvel Universe of things – it’s clean and clear. It gives you the ability to have almost what feels like an unlimited amount of content, actively updated, and it’s very predictable. It’s a very specific [menu of] things that you’re into and love – so if you love daddy-son content, there’s going to be nowhere better that you can find that content than with us, period.”
Although Carnal+ is already launching with 10 sites, the remaining 11 properties, including MasonicBoys, will be quickly added to the platform alongside a number of content partnerships that will provide “something relatively unique,” Wolf noted, such as a channel devoted strictly to exploring adult toys.
“With a streaming service, you get to really play with this idea of ‘channels.’ You get to have fun things appear there,” he enthused. “We’re really excited to have this steaming service – much like [recently launched] TheGayGoods. com, which is our ‘gay Playboy’ — where we will not shy away from sexually explicit entertainment; why should we?”
Current members who subscribe to just one Carnal Media property, such as Growlboys, for example, will be given the option of a one-click upgrade to a Carnal+ membership, which Wolf noted is “roughly the price of two subscriptions.”
Members who subscribe to more than one property will have the option to upgrade one membership “and we will refund the rest,” Wolf stated. “We don’t need people to be spending on four or five or six memberships. That can be costly. Yes, we’d make more money on that individual, but on the whole, we think it’s much smarter and [builds] a better relationship with the consumer.”
Further promotions, such as bundles, will also be available.
“We are competitive with everyone out there,” observed Wolf. “But the difference is our content is made by gay men, for gay men — and anyone who likes gay content. As we look at our demographics, roughly 30% are people who identify as women. And when it comes to men, we have done some surveys and about 20% — I’m being conservative — of [male customers] do not identify as men who have sex with men, particularly Growlboys. I think once people imagine themselves as a furry were-creature, they feel completely uninhibited and want to fuck and get fucked by lots of things. Those individuals are the ones who have memberships they never let expire.”
The exec, who is also a performer himself, admits the company’s rapid growth has occasionally proved daunting. “I haven’t really slept,” he admits with a laugh. “But there’s a reason why we’ve been able to blow up and that’s because we have a really incredible team. We have experienced this growth by focusing on what we are passionate about.”
Wolf and his husband have only recently extricated themselves from a challenging legal battle and they have adopted a sanguine attitude as the company moves forward.
“This is something I really hope to be able to convey to others who go through painful experiences,” he said. “We had to focus on what we were passionate about and not hang on to the anger [because] that doesn’t help you build up a company and get out the door. At a certain point you have to adopt a degree of stoicism, you have to find it — maybe even read the great Stoics. This is not easy to do. You have to free yourself up to do the work that is ahead of you, otherwise it will just slow you down.”
“I’m not talking about forgiving people,” he added. “I grew up in the Christian faith; I was a Mormon. I am talking about letting go; they are two totally different things. You can find peace and then work your ass off and learn from your mistakes. Put everything behind you and that’s how you grow. I’m really lucky in that my husband and I have each other; my husband buoyed me up through this whole process. Having that level of support and love and the ability to work together with someone I love — I’m really lucky. And if it isn’t there for you, then you are going to have to say, ‘I’m going to remind myself daily that I can get through this. And I can really succeed.’ It’s not easy, but it can be done.”
