WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — One year after a raucous rock ’n’ roll celebration at the Whisky a Go Go, the seventh annual Pornhub Awards traded in leather and lace for a Wild West theme that brought the industry’s top cowboys and cowgirls to the historic Saddle Ranch Chop House on Hollywood’s iconic Sunset Strip.
Decked out in their finest Western apparel, attendees noshed on chicken tenders, burgers and fries while enjoying an open bar operated by Saddle Ranch’s friendly staff.
Guests were also gifted white cowboy hats featuring Pornhub branding, as well as gift bags from premier marijuana brand Stiiizy. Some indulged in their Stiiizy swag while sitting on bales of hay, or ponied up to the photo booth, where starlets sat astride saddles and posed for the cameras. Attendees even partook in some line dancing before the main event.
The show was hosted by comedian, influencer and rising musical artist Jordan Firstman, who fit right in and did his best to wrangle the intoxicating — and increasingly intoxicated — crowd.
"Was it the most captive audience I’ve ever had?" he reflected. "No. But was it fun? Yes, it was fun."
Firstman said he especially savored his interactions with all of the female performers he met.
"The guys were a little shady, though," he confided with a laugh.
The evening was a very informal affair, with only six awards handed out onstage. The rest of the night’s winners were announced via an eight-minute video, during which categories flew by like tumbleweeds.
With little in the way of opening remarks, and no lifetime achievement speeches or hall of fame inductions, Pornhub simply got down to business, perhaps knowing it would be tough to hold this crowd’s attention for more than 15 minutes.
Firstman kicked things off by instructing the crowd to "Shut the fuck up" and inquiring, "What’s up, whores?"
Firstman then shared a tongue-in-cheek history lesson.
"Welcome to the 168th annual Pornhub Awards," he proclaimed. "This show started in 1867, when it featured awards such as Most Fuckable Ankles and Best Rouge. Now there’s an award for Best Gaping Pussy. We’ve come so far."
Firstman also informed the crowd that he had been warned not to roast anyone because "Y’all are woke Pornhub liberals." However, he still managed to get in a few licks while making his own sexual proclivities known throughout the night.
"I bet your dick is big and gorgeous," he told one hunky cowboy from the stage. "I want to suck it."
Before handing the award for Most Popular Trans Femme Performer to Emma Rose, Firstman confided, "I like my trans girls like I like my coffee: filled with stimulants and able to keep me up all night." He then led a chant of "Girldick! Girldick!"
During the video portion, Firstman supplied his own commentary like a character straight out of a raunchy queer episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
It started with the award for Top Lesbian Performer, when Firstman cried out, "Ellen DeGeneres!" before Siri Dahl was announced as the winner. Up next was the award for Best Anal Performer. Again, Firstman screamed "Ellen DeGeneres!" before Willow Ryder was revealed as the true victor. Firstman went back to the running "Ellen" joke once more, when it came time to announce Favorite Daddy Performer, an accolade that went to Derek Kage.
When the category of Best Gay Channel was announced, Firstman yelled "HBO!" while "FX!" was his punchline for Best Trans Channel. Those awards actually went to Men.com and Transfixed, respectively.
The Saddle Ranch is well known for the mechanical bull at its center, and a few stars were willing to ride it, including award winners Dahlia Dee and Cherie DeVille, whose turn on the bull drew cheers from the crowd.
DeVille later returned to the spotlight after being named Top MILF Performer.
"Every MILF out there has their own MILF," Firstman pointed out philosophically. "Think about that."
DeVille, for her part, said it felt "absolutely amazing" to win at the Pornhub Awards, where she was named Favorite MILF last year.
"I love winning any award, but it feels extra special winning something from Pornhub because I know it’s analytics-based,” said DeVille. "There are no committees or personal opinions, so it’s really what the fans wanted. It couldn’t be a more flattering award."
DeVille added that she loved dressing up in her black-and-white cowgirl outfit, complete with a black cowboy hat featuring sparkly silver fringe.
"I’m a sucker for a theme and a costume, so if you give that to me I’ll be happy all night,” she said.
Discussing favorite recent projects, DeVille mentioned her "Space Jam" collab with Juliette Michele and Little Puck, as well as an upcoming "Fifth Element"-themed cosplay.
"That’s coming out soon, and I’m extremely excited about it,” said DeVille. "I’ve been doing a lot more cosplay, and I’ve been really feeling it."
Aside from Top MILF Performer and Most Popular Trans Femme Performer, the awards for Most Popular Trans Masc Performer, Most Popular Male Performer, Most Popular Female Performer and Best Dick were also given out live onstage.
Best Dick wound up being a tie between Jordi El Niño Polla and Girthmasterr, and Firstman seemed to relish presenting that particular award.
"Cocks," he reflected. "Where did they come from? And more importantly, where are they going? To answer, we have a very special guest: Michelle Obama!
"Just kidding," he added after a moment. "She would never come here."
Jordi was on hand to accept the honor.
"I am very happy," he said. "I want to say thank you to Pornhub and all the fans who voted for me."
Also present was proud Nicest Pussy winner Elly Clutch.
"Honestly, it’s the best thing ever," she enthused. "I’m so grateful and happy to be representing girls with labia!"
"I love seeing my friends and being with all the people I belong with," added Clutch, who also teased an upcoming collaboration with Mr. Lucky and Alex Mack.
While most industry events are populated by a mix of industry figures, including agents and execs, the Pornhub Awards features a very talent-heavy list, and you couldn’t walk more than a few feet without seeing a major starlet.
Top performers such as Blake Blossom and Charlotte Sins were in attendance, along with their "Wanted" co-star Isiah Maxwell. It was Sins’ first time at the Pornhub Awards, and she said she was there to show her support, be a cheerleader and have fun with her colleagues.
Sins also teased an upcoming collab with Chad Alva that, like "Wanted," is inspired by "Natural Born Killers."
"I always love working with director Ricky Greenwood, as doing features with him is such a cool opportunity," said Sins. "And I was so inspired doing 'Wanted' that I wanted to do my own take on 'NBK.'"
Sins added that she hopes to work for Casey Calvert and Bree Mills again this year as well.
The guest list also included Nicest Tits nominee Sarah Arabic, multi-award-winning performer/director Seth Gamble and power publicist Erika Icon, as well as plenty of folks from outside of the industry. Among the latter were model Preslee Tringas, a casting director for a major Hollywood production company who said she was there to enjoy herself rather than scout the considerable talent in attendance, and sex columnist-turned-screenwriter Karley Sciortino, who skyrocketed to fame with her Slutever brand.
“I’m such a fan of so many porn stars,” said Sciortino, who admitted to getting starstruck upon seeing Asa Akira. “And Pornhub is such a fun company. They’ve done a really good job of maintaining safety, highlighting consent and monitoring the content on the site. I just love how they put performers first.”
Sciortino’s next film stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, and is titled "I Want Your Sex."
“It’s based on a dom-sub relationship I had with a former boss of mine,” explained Sciortino, who noted that the film is still in the editing process.
One of the evening’s sexiest couples was Molly, aka Vibewithmommy, and her handsome partner, Cody. The two have amassed quite a following on Instagram, where they’re known for their sexually provocative comedy skits that play into certain “stepmom” fantasies.
The pair were first-time guests at the Pornhub Awards. Molly admitted that Vibewithmommy being nominated for Favorite MILF caught her by surprise.
"I was super shocked!" she said. "I was like, 'Me? No way!' So I started getting in my head about it, but now that I’m here, I’m like, 'I deserve to be here.'"
Added Cody, "When we got here, we had this immediate moment of relief like, 'Oh, these are our people.'"
The two are currently planning a video in which Vibewithmommy wants to do an episode of "MTV Cribs."
“But no one wants to see her shitty house,” explained Cody. “So she ends up dragging some random guy into her house to look at her crib — and then you know where it goes.”
Molly also lamented sometimes having to walk a tightrope to stay within industry regulations.
"I like the newly regulated industry, but there are a lot of strict guidelines, which kind of stifles creativity, in my opinion,” she explained. "I’d like to be absolutely insanely crazy and say whatever I want, but we have to do it within these confines without getting banned or having our videos taken down, so it’s hard.
"Yes, I want to be super creative, but you also have to fit inside of what’s considered acceptable these days," she sighed.
When XBIZ spoke with Dahlia Dee early in the evening, she noted that it was her third time being nominated for Favorite BBW after 13 years in the industry.
"I’m not going to win," she shrugged. "I’m a low-level performer at the bottom of the barrel. Everyone else has way higher metrics than me."
An hour later, Dee's name was announced as the winner in the Favorite BBW category.
"I think I peed myself a little!" exclaimed Dee, who had traveled to Los Angeles from New Brunswick, Canada, for the ceremony.
Asked about what might be up next on her bucket list, Dee said it would be "a dream come true" to work for Brazzers and director Kieran Lee one day. She also enthused about being able to meet so many other industry folks at the event.
"As a content creator, it can be very isolating, so getting to hang out with your peers all night is amazing,” she affirmed, lamenting only that she could not work in America while visiting, due to being Canadian.
She also expressed concern about age verification laws prompting Pornhub to flee certain states.
"As a Canadian, we’re way more liberal when it comes to porn," she said. "But it’s concerning that a huge portion of my fan base can’t watch my content anymore."
That being said, there are still billions of porn viewers around the world, and the ceremony was bookended by a pair of wins for one of their favorite performers: Angela White, who won Best Tits and was named Most Popular Female Performer.
"Thank you to all my fans for voting for me and for watching all my porn," said White, who took home the same two awards last year.
"All right, Angela, Tthat’s quite enough of you,” Firstman joked as White posed for photos onstage.
Firstman then led a chant of “Fucking is good! We love fucking!” before leaving the stage following the completion of night’s awards program around 11 p.m.
When XBIZ caught up with White later in the evening, she said it was "absolutely incredible" to win two Pornhub awards.
“It’s an amazing feeling, but I just love having an opportunity to get together with everyone and have a great time," she said. "I love the cowboy theme too. Everybody looks fantastic!"
White also teased an upcoming collaboration with Jak Knife, who was named Most Popular Male Performer.
"It’s cool that we just happen to have this collab coming out next week, and we both won big awards tonight," she teased.
The party continued to rage until 2 a.m., when the bartenders rang the last cowbell and ushered stragglers out of the Saddle Ranch and onto Sunset Boulevard, where dozens of fans waited patiently for autographs and selfies with the stars.
For a full list of winners at the Pornhub Awards, click here.
