Colleagues Mourn the Loss of Performer Casey Jacks

LOS ANGELES—The tight-knit members of Choice Talent Management are dealing with a big loss this week, and several took time out to talk to AVN about the death of gay adult performer Casey Jacks, who passed away Monday night in Petaluma, Calif. Agency founder Chris Crisco spoke briefly with Casey Jacks’ brother, who was “not in a state of mind to give much information. But he confirmed that [Jacks] had died Monday evening and that they were going to start memorial service processes and hopefully there will be something up in Petaluma for Casey.” Though Crisco definitively states he doesn’t have any official details about Jacks’ passing and chose not to speculate about the cause of death, he did confirm that the performer had struggled with substance abuse. Crisco has created a memorial page where his colleagues can post about Jacks. On that page Crisco notes that Jacks began his adult career 2016 when he shot with RealityDudes.com. During a “short but busy career,” Jacks worked for various studios, including Men.com, Falcon, Next Door Studios, GuysInSweatPants and Corbin Fisher (as “Owen”). Crisco represented Jacks for the better part of his career, since early 2017. “I have nothing but wonderful things to say about him. He was super smiley. He was always a joy on set," Crisco recalled. “He was the life of the party any time we went to any awards shows or parties or anything. The first one on the dance floor, the last one to leave the dance floor. He was always such a happy-go-lucky kid. You just never know when people have demons that they’re battling. They hide it so well these days. And we just have no idea. Absolutely no idea.” Crisco talked to Jacks at least every couple of weeks—as did his Choice Management brothers. “They always loved talking to him. They’re completely shocked, too. Most of us talked to him last week and I had planned to see him this week. … As soon as I landed in California I called his brother, and that’s when I found out the news.” Asked what type of work Jacks liked best, Crisco said, “He always did like to do the acting. He loved things with story plots. … Obviously, he enjoyed the sex part, but he always enjoyed the B-roll and the dialogue that came with it, and he fancied himself a great actor. And I always did, too. He was so cute. He just loved everybody. … Just an amazing kid and the industry is definitely a sadder place without him.” Crisco mentioned that Jacks did a lot of work for Men.com and particularly loved shooting with Marc MacNamara. The director shared his thoughts on Jacks' passing in a statement to AVN. “To be in front of the camera, performing in a sexual way takes a great deal of vulnerability,” MacNamara wrote. “I bow down to every porn actor because I couldn’t do it. They give so much and open themselves up for their art. When you are so open and vulnerable, you are exposed. Thus it makes it easier to get hurt and to find darkness to hide in or escape to. Emotionally. Mentally, it is tough. “Casey was a bright soul,” MacNamara continued. “He was quick, witty and kind. Darkness can find even the strongest and brightest. Our lives aren’t always the edited posts and status updates we’d like to portray to the public. Let’s honor Casey and his ever-present laugh and smile. We love you and let’s love each other. Share the light he left for us.”  Nic Sahara, a fellow client at Choice Talent, shared his memories of his colleague. “We were more work friends,” Sahara said. “We would always chat back and forth with each other trying to set up days we could actually hang out. … He was always working.” When they were able to get together, Sahara said, Jacks was very social and loved to connect with other people. “He loved to go out. He loved to meet people. He loved to get drunk, have a good time—that’s what he was built for. He was living life to the fullest all the time.” But what really stood out was Jacks’ sense of humor. “Every time I would see his stories on Instagram or anything of that sort, I would laugh hysterically. He was so incredibly witty and completely and utterly a man of his own. … He had everything going for him.” The last time Sahara talked to his friend was on a conference call while they were planning to get together. Jacks told him, “Everything’s great. Work is super busy.” And Sahara said he promised to get a treat for Jacks when they got together. “If you’re really good, I’ll go ahead and make sure I have some empanadas there for you,” Sahara told his friend. “His face lit up.” Though his friend gave no indication that he was in distress, Sahara said that later, “When I heard the news I wondered, was I not there enough for him? Could I have been there more?” Nick Fitt, another Choice Talent performer, also talked about how much he enjoyed Jacks’ sense of humor. “I never worked with him personally on a scene but we were on set together and he was always happy and smiling and funny,” Fitt recalled, noting that sometimes the crew would laugh so hard they’d have to stop production. “I also serve as a production director for Mile High Media [the company behind Icon Male and Noir Male], so when he worked with them it was always a good time.” Fitt took every opportunity to hang out with Jacks, and often drove him to Choice Talent meetings, dinners or photoshoots. He would tell Jacks, “Ride in my car, because you’re going to talk all the time and be hilarious and have all these funny stories.” Fitt explained, “It always felt like you knew him for 20 or 30 years. It felt like he was your kindergarten friend. … I made sure I sat next to him or in earshot so I could hear him and hear what was going on. We had a playful banter back and forth.” Like Sahara, Fitt was caught off guard by the loss and troubled that depression and substance abuse could have played a role in Jacks’ death. “We’re getting a lot of backlash on Twitter, like, why weren't you guys there? What happened? We honestly didn’t know. It’s a complete shock that this happened. … Whether it was an accident or intentional, we need to raise awareness and we need to talk to each other and we need to know we’re all in this industry together.” For his part, Fitt took the initiative yesterday to contact a group of adult stars who live in Los Angeles. “I put everybody in a huge group text and was like, ‘Listen, we can’t have this happen again. And if anyone needs anything, you call me, you tell me. Let’s not have judgment. Let’s all agree right now that what we tell each other is confidential. … I think that that’s the silver lining. More people will come together and be open about their mental health and feelings.” Communication can happen in many ways, Fitt says: “If we could just get support systems going, just knowing that people are there. … Let’s go hiking, let’s have a movie night, let’s get together—it doesn’t have to cost money. We don’t have to go out and be fabulous and have photos taken. There doesn’t need to be a red-carpet walk. There doesn’t need to be any of that.” Fitt was moved by how many people shared their thoughts in the group text. “We have about 20 committed people who live in Los Angeles, whether they’re doing OnlyFans, JustFor.Fans, mainstream—whatever. We have a lot of people who came together yesterday. It’s not the best solution, but it’s a start.”