Porn Studios Shut Down After Actor Possibly Tests Positive for HIV

The Free Speech Coalition and Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, two leading groups in the adult film industry, called for a precautionary halt to production on porn films on Monday after a possible positive test for HIV by an adult performer was listed in the “pass database.”

The FSC called on porn studios to shut down production until the tests could be confirmed. If the tests are shown to be a false positive, the hold could be lifted as early as this Wednesday. FSC says the performer “had not worked on an adult set during the window of transmission, and had not participated in any fluid exchange shoots since their last negative test.”

“We will also proactively begin partner notification and retest anyone who might have had contact with the performer since their last clear test,” FSC says. “Production holds are an important part of the safety protocols in adult film, but does not signal an actual on-set transmission, nor a confirmed positive test. The adult film industry has not seen an on-set transmission of HIV on a PASS-regulated set in over a decade.”

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The Adult Performer Advocacy Committee released a statement supporting the shutdown, saying that “based on the current genealogy, there is low-risk to the performer pool” and that it would determine later whether the shutdown could be lifted later this week or needed to be extended for two weeks.

The hold comes six months after California voters voted ‘No’ on Proposition 60, which would have given state health organizations the power to prosecute porn producers who did not require performers to use condoms on set. The FSC opposed Prop 60 on the grounds that it would allow any citizen to file a suit against a performer not using a condom and receive a cash payout. The proposition was also opposed by the editorial boards of several California newspapers, including The San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times. It was supported by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has fought for safe sex regulation in the adult film industry.

“The industry has these shutdowns not because we’re not safe, but because we are safe,” APAC chairperson and adult performer Chanel Preston told Forbes. “I’ve gone through multiple shutdowns in seven and a half years in the industry. This is what we’re doing. We’re following protocols.”