Allie Haze Learns: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

LAS VEGAS, NV—Most in the adult industry would probably agree if someone called veteran adult star Allie Haze a "sweetheart," but reports of her recent Q&A with a girls' softball team at devout Christian Nyack College in Rockland County, N.Y., suggests that a lot of mainstream outlets won't be echoing that sentiment. It all started last February, when Haze got a call from the team's coach, Kurt Ludwigsen, 44, who's better known in the adult world as Kurt Vogner, owner of Verified Call, which allows subscribers to speak directly with porn stars who are signed up with the service. Haze has been with the service since 2012, so she wasn't overly surprised when Ludwigsen, who'd been informed that she'd be in New York for a dance gig, offered her a place to stay during the gig and asked her to come speak to his team about her life experiences. Just one problem: According to a lawsuit filed by three members of the softball team, Haze was supposedly there to "recruit" the girls into porn careers—a charge Haze vehemently denies. "I feel like when I went there, it was positive," Haze told The Huffington Post. "No one was uncomfortable. I talked about my life, the motivating factors behind my going into porn and how I'm an entrepreneur. So, for them to say it was offensive is strange." A religious person herself, Haze looked at the conversation with the girls as an attempt to help them better prepare for life, both in school and after. "There's an assumption that all softball players are lesbians, so I gave them advice on how to deal with that," she stated to HuffPost's David Moye. "I told them to focus on doing what they feel is right for them and not worry about what others think." "I believe in God, and my encouragement was if that's how you feel in your heart, you can't help who you love," the self-described bisexual star added. "By people saying it's not appropriate for me to speak to students at a Christian school, it's like saying that I, as a person, have nothing to offer." In fact, she said Ludwigsen encouraged her to "come out and do the practice and run some drills and hang out with these girls and show them that it’s not technically your career that defines you and that you’re a normal human being." "I didn't think it was weird. I've spoken at colleges before," she noted. "I've spoken at USC twice. I have a lot of colleagues who've spoken at colleges also." But what Haze wasn't aware of was the "back story" of how Ludwigsen interacted with his team. According to the four nearly identical lawsuits, filed by "A. Doe," "E. Doe," "K. Doe" and "S. Doe," after noting that Ludwigsen "has been charged by the Rockland County District Attorney with seven counts of felony coercion in the first degree, 94 counts of forcible touching, 94 counts of sexual assault in the third degree and two counts of harassment in the second degree," the suits go on to describe his alleged behavior toward the plaintiffs. "The outrageous conduct of Ludwigsen includes, without limitation, routinely licking his players’ ears, kissing their lips and faces, slapping their buttocks, grabbing their breasts, directing them to sit on his lap, lying on top of them, commenting about their physical attributes, having sexually explicit conversations with them, inviting a pornographic actress known as Allie Haze to practice and directing students to life counseling sessions with her, directing an underage drinking outing where his players were instructed to dress in cocktail dresses and dance with male strangers and offering to assist players to attain employment in the adult entertainment industry," Paragraph 2 of the complaints reads. According to at least one of the lawsuits, that conduct took the form of proclaiming the phrase "top tits" as the rallying cry and/or slogan for the team; frequently saying, "zip, thud," while using his arm to mime removing a large, erect phallus from his pants, purportedly as a metaphor for team dominance over opponents; asking team members about their sex lives on a regular basis, and demanding graphic details about the frequency and nature of their sexual activities; frequently punching team members in the breasts, which he called, "tit punching"; holding mandatory private or small group meetings with team members and their boyfriends, during which he would inquire in graphic detail about the couples' sex lives; and forcing a team member to sit on his lap outside of the third-base dugout, in plain view of the team's spectators." Regarding Haze in particular, the lawsuits charge, " Despite his severe restrictions on contact with persons outside of the Softball Team, Ludwigsen did encourage Team members to socialize with the pornographic actress known as Allie Haze. On at least one occasion, Ludwigsen invited Allie Haze to a Softball Team practice to bestow 'life advice' upon Team members. Prior to her visit, he privately told at least two Team members, including Plaintiff, in words or substance, that they in particular would find Allie Haze’s 'advice' useful. Ludwigsen introduced Allie Haze to the Softball Team as a pornographic actress. After practice, he asked at least two Team members, including Plaintiff, to his office to meet privately with Allie Haze for approximately one hour, in the presence of Ms. Lambertson, where he directed the conversation to focus primarily on Allie Haze's sexual history. On another occasion, Ludwigsen required all Team members to visit his home for a question-and-answer session with Allie Haze. He directed Team members to prepare questions in advance, with the implication that they were to ask Allie Haze about her sexual experience." As for Haze, she described the conversations as "harmless regular girl conversation," and noted that a couple of the players later asked her for advice about their lovelives, which she said included "nothing sexual." Each 22-page lawsuit contains nearly four full pages of alleged sexual acts committed by Ludwigsen on various team members. One such lawsuit can be viewed here. The lawsuits also name Nyack College itself, claiming that the school hired Ludwigsen, "even though he was the subject of a criminal investigation in California for sexual assault and harassment against teen girls he coached." With the lawsuits having just ben filed late last week and early this week, no further action has been taken. Check back to AVN.com later for developments in this important case.