AVN Stars Platform Receives Vegas Welcome

LAS VEGAS—Scarlett Bloom likes the versatility of AVN Stars. “I like the Stories,” Bloom says. “I like that you can do some free posts. I think that’s my favorite part—that you can pick the thumbnail for what you’re uploading.” The rising performer from the South Side of Chicago met fans at the inaugural AVN Stars booth Thursday in Muse Hall at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on the second day of the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. The 2020 edition of the world’s largest adult entertainment convention marks the official unveiling for AVN Stars, the fast-growing social media platform created by AVN Media Network with adult models in mind. AVN Stars allows creators to post explicit content without the concern of being shadow-banned or suspended. Performers can monetize their accounts by charging a fee for monthly subscribers—or they can offer their content free. Sign up is free at stars.avn.com. Bloom, who has more than 50 credits since starting her porn career in 2018, tells AVN she joined the platform not long after it soft-launched in mid-2019. “I try to keep pretty consistent with it,” says Bloom, who is represented for bookings by blue-chip talent agency Motley Models. “I think it’s a good idea because it’s industry run… I hope it takes it off more.” Just a few yards away from Bloom, fellow Motley Model Scarlett Sage signed autographs and posed for pictures with admirers who visited her at her AVN Stars perch. Sage calls AVN Stars “convenient and super easy to use.” “I actually made a video where I was trying on all my AVN Stars gear,” Sage says, noting she likes how the fan voting for the 2020 AVN Awards is being done through AVN Stars this year. “You know they’re voting for you when they’re on the platform. So you know who your devoted fans are,” Sage says. The AVN Stars booth, positioned in the front of Muse Hall, featured a DJ, a row of white leather couches and an open bar. Rapper T-Pain even dropped by to perform a surprise song around 6 p.m. “I love the vibe,” Sage says.  Speaking of good vibes, performers and cam models didn’t have to venture far to find the AVN Stars Lounge, which this week has taken over the space that used to be occupied by the John Varvatos store at Hard Rock. The cozy room, adorned with couches and a #FreeTheNipple photo wall, is serving many purposes during AVN week. It’s the central gathering spot for all current and future AVN Stars users where they can sign up for the platform and get their accounts monetized. Talent may also pick up free AVN Stars swag, enjoys complimentary snacks and refreshments, and grab their tickets and red carpet passes for the 2020 AVN Awards Show on Saturday night. Among the free gear available for monetizing your Stars account are: bralettes, thongs, tank-tops, cropped hoodies, regular hoodies, booty shorts, baseball caps and men’s briefs. The MyFreeCams duo of Gracie Haze and Hempley Jones—who were among the dozens of models spotted checking out the official AVN Stars apparel, say they’ll be ramping up their Stars presence in 2020. Haze tells AVN she’s weighing several options on how to build her account. “There’s so many ways I can take it,” Haze says. “There are a lot of choices so I gotta figure out exactly the way I want to go with it.” Haze, who is from the Toronto area, and the Seattle native Jones met in an elevator at a past AVN Show, hitting it off immediately and camming together any chance they get. This week they are doing live cam shows next to each other at the MFC booth. “A lot of people don’t like to cam from conventions because it’s limiting, but we take it as a challenge,” Haze says. “We get creative. We’re like, 'OK, we’re going to do leapfrog.' We just took a pair of the [AVN Stars] men’s briefs because we wedgie each other…” Jones says she and Haze aren’t sharing the same laptop, but their close proximity makes it easier to interact with each other. “It’s just the way we’ve always done it,” Jones tells AVN. “We can make out on cam. We know the person next to us rather than it be, ‘Now I gotta find someone that wants to kiss me.’” Both Jones and Haze enjoyed the ambiance of the AVN Stars Lounge. “We literally said, ‘This is amazing. It looks really good,'" says Jones, a former massage therapist who has been camming for two years. "Sometimes when you’re out there and everything’s really hectic it’s nice to come somewhere that’s just chill and quiet." Haze, who was a bartender and student before she started camming two years ago, adds, "If you want to stand here and have a conversation you don’t have to scream at each other. “And the swag looks good. I wish there was more #FreeTheNipple stuff. I didn’t get any #FreeTheNipple and I love #FreeTheNipple.” The male performer known as Porn Jesus approved. Aka surrealist Nolan Silverstein, Porn Jesus gave his blessing to the AVN Stars Lounge, adding that he likes the ease of posting on AVN Stars. “It’s really instant,” Porn Jesus says, noting he joined the platform about five months ago after seeing Naughty Aubree Valentine excel. “I really like Aubree and I saw that she was doing well on there and I was like, I could do that.” Silverstein, who is from Delaware but now lives in LA, says he came up with his stage name Porn Jesus about six months ago. “Living in LA people would just approach me and tell me I looked like Jesus constantly. They would want to touch my hair and stuff and I was like, ‘What if I were to just rebrand to Porn Jesus?” he explains. “My main goal is to be more attractive to a female audience. I can’t get that by being a POV guy. I have to get that by being a character.” A “surrealist filmmaker” by trade and also a folk musician, Porn Jesus says he’s done a lot of “stunt cock” work in addition to sex talk shows such as “Hello Cougar” prior to creating BethlehemCastingCouch—which is his Pornhub Channel. “It sort of all connects,” Porn Jesus says. “It’s easy to find my real name. My scope of work is huge under my real name so porn is drawing traffic to that. … I think it’s necessary for it to be connected to Porn Jesus.” Scarlett Bloom Scarlett Sage Porn Jesus