Aside from a brief Instagram note, James Deen has remained silent since writer and fellow adult film star Stoyapublicly accused him of rape in a pair of tweets in November. After Stoya's accusations started to gain traction on Twitter and across headlines, several more women came forward with harrowing allegations of their own involving violent encounters with Deen, most recentlyTeen Mom star Farrah Abraham. Evil Angel, Kink, and others quickly distanced themselves from Deen in the wake of growing controversy by issuing statements of support for the alleged sexual assault victims.
In his first interview since Stoya's allegations and the ensuing fallout, Deen tells the Daily Beast he's "completely baffled" by Stoya's initial accusation and the ensuing controversy. According to Deen, his break-up with Stoya was "messy" and alleges it involved threats from Stoya and harassment of an employee:
There are public articles all over the internet, written by her, that make the exact opposite claims. She discusses how we communicated and how we were very careful with consent especially when involved with rough sex. What I do know is that Stoya and I did not have a clean break up. It was pretty messy, full of a lot of emotions and both Stoya and I are to blame for that.
When asked about the accusations of Tori Lux, who alleges that Deen once hit her in the face multiple times "with an open palm," Deen asserts that he's "completely safe" saying that the incident did not occur:
When I am on set I am under instruction of the company who is paying me. I could describe the events of the scene I was in the other day and it could be just as dramatic. I have no desire to blame people who consider themselves victims or throw stones. I will just say this: my job as a performer for rough sex companies is to engage in certain acts. If at any point I pushed boundaries past the point of comfort, I am sorry. I have always tried to respect peoples’ limits and safe words and operated within that space. If someone expressed anything to me I honored the request with the fullest care.
Addressing Kink's decision to part ways in light of the controversy, Deen says there are "plenty of issues" with the company that have been well-documented. Deen also claims that Evil Angel, who made a statement in response to Stoya's accusations implying they had ended their relationship with Deen, were long ago terminated for very different reasons:
I hate to throw stones but at this point, fuck it. I fired Evil Angel over a year ago. I had to have my lawyer contact them multiple times to stop them from distributing my product. The idea that they stopped doing anything is ridiculous.
Deen, who is quick to remind everyone that he never claimed to be a feminist or "the boy next door," also stands by his recently unearthed tweets that included a variety of rape jokes. "I think that finding humor in horror is a coping mechanism I use to accept that terrible things happen in the world," Deen says. "I’m not PC. But making a rape joke does not make one a rapist."
As for the possibility of taking legal action of his own, or the status of legal action against him, Deen reveals he currently has no plans for a defamation suit and is not under investigation of any kind:
I want to remind people that I am not the subject of any lawsuits, I am not under criminal investigation, and at this moment I have no intention of filing defamation suits against false accusations.
Read the full interview here.
