Performers Celebrate In-Person Return of GayVN Awards & Events

LOS ANGELES—When Brogan first started working in the adult entertainment industry, all he knew was porn during the pandemic. “When I started my OnlyFans, I was never planning on doing studio work. I never really planed on being in the industry; it was something that I did because of Covid. I needed money,” shared the Sean Cody performer in Las Vegas during the week-long industry celebration that included the GayVN Awards and the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. “It was a really unexpected year, but a lot of fun to feel like I became part of the industry and started meeting everyone. I realized that I’m good at this, and this is an industry I’m proud to be part of. So it’s so wonderful that we could all finally get together and celebrate each other. We’ve all just been so eager to get back and see each other’s faces and interact. And there’s a lot of people I’m excited to see for the first time now that I’m branching out to more than one studio.” Brogan’s nominations were just icing on the cake—and gave him the perfect excuse to attend the first in-person GayVN Awards in three years, which took place in early January in Las Vegas. “I had no idea what to expect…porn awards? Do people just get wasted and get up and give embarrassing speeches? Or do people take it really seriously?” he said with a laugh. “I was excited, and it was a lot of fun. I had a lot more fun than I was expecting. I was kind of nervous going into it.” That excitement was also displayed by his peers that week, with everyone less concerned about winning and more concerned with the sense of community the events provided. “This whole week is going to drive morale up very high,” said Austin Wolf. “People have felt disconnected—not just from the rest of the world, but our community is already a little shoved in the corner. So I think for people who do adult work at any level at all, this is a huge refresh for all of us.” That included Cole Connor, who this year won Best Actor for Raging Stallion’s Ride or Die. “This is my first GayVNs in person. Last year was my first one ever, and I won Best Newcomer—but that was all virtual. We were all watching from home on our laptops,” he said. “I’ve always known about GayVNs and AVNs, and I’ve been so excited to finally come in person. I would always see all of the GayVN nominated lists on AEBN, like for Best Group Scene, and I would go through and favorite all of the scenes to watch,” Connor continued with a laugh. It was also the first GayVN Awards that Best Newcomer nominee Alpha Wolfe attended in person. “This is my first event, and I feel super excited coming here—especially seeing my picture (at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo)—it’s such an honor. I feel like everyone is so happy to just be together and celebrate everybody’s achievements. Everyone feels a bit more safe now, so it’s like, let’s get out there and celebrate each other. And I’m just excited to make new connections.” Beau Butler, who won the fan award for Favorite Bottom to go alongside last year’s Favorite Bear trophy, was equally excited. “I’ve been daydreaming about this since I started in the industry,” beamed Butler, who also got his start during the pandemic. “Everybody would tell me about these when I first started, how everybody’s there and it’s so much fun. Especially at that time, I couldn’t even imagine it, because we were all so fragmented and isolated. I’m just so grateful to be here with Falcon, because they have such a presence here, and they have included me in this—not only to just be here, but to have an active purpose as well at the AVN Expo. This has all been really exciting. It’s just so wonderful to see everybody together.” Butler, who was part of the small in-studio production that served as the centerpiece of the 2022 GayVN Awards broadcast online, helped build up the excitement of studio mate Drew Valentino (who won Best Newcomer this year). “This is my first one, so it’s all new to me. These are the first awards that I’ve ever been nominated for, so it’s been really exciting to come here and watch it unfold and see how big of a thing it is,” Valentino said. “It’s funny because I had been talking to people like Cole and Beau and all my friends that did it last year, I didn’t even think about how it wasn’t even in person. So there’s definitely just this level of excitement that I’m feeling that’s so much fun. It’s nice to experience it with so many of these people for the first time, too. I feel like I’m in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory because I keep bumping into more people I know, and everybody is just here for each other. It’s a lot of fun.” Johnny Donovan is one of the performers who had been to an in-person GayVN Awards show before, attending right before the pandemic interrupted the world in early 2020. The multiple nominee finally won this year, taking home a trophy for his work in the Best Group Scene from Sean Cody and BelAmi. “We all need the industry to exist, for people to make it a marketable and sellable product, and it was kind of scary those two years not knowing where that was going to come from. We were doing it all ourselves, and I don’t think most of us know what we’re doing,” he said with a laugh. “So it’s nice to have the support from the industry again and to see and meet all of the people here—whether they be agents, other studios, photographers or anybody. It’s a big freelance market, so you get to meet lots of people in different specialties, and you get an idea about everyone’s mindset and the future of this industry. It just feels more hopeful now. “It’s also been really cool seeing how many people are still in the industry from when I was here in 2020, which was my first awards. A lot of the people that I met then had just gotten started in porn, and it feels like a big family coming back together, so that’s really cool. It’s nice to see people have longevity through the pandemic.” Networking with new people was also vital for the likes of GayVN-nominated director Jessica Jasmin, up for Disruptive Films’ Briar Basin Ranch. “It’s important to bring everybody together. For us at Disruptive, it was important to come and show up because we’re a brand that got created during the pandemic. So we just wanted to come and be out there. It’s about just getting to meet people in person that we’ve been talking to on the phone and by video—which just isn’t the same. We really get to connect with people on another level.” Killian Knox, also a nominee for his work in Briar Basin Ranch, was smiling for days. “This is amazing. When I started, it was during Covid, so we didn’t really have this. So now that we have it, it’s really great just to be able to be with the people you’ve worked with in the past. It’s almost like a homecoming. And it gives you a chance to meet new people and maybe make some new connections,” he said. “There’s tons of people I haven’t seen in a while because I live on the East Coast. Getting to see Cole Conner again—that was really great because we started together, and that was a lot of fun. It’s really nice to just meet or see everybody again.” Helix models Kai Taylor and Sam Ledger also gushed about the experience, which included appearing at the studio’s booth during the Expo—and presenting trophies at the GayVN Awards. “This needed to happen in person this year,” said Taylor. “And helping with the trophies and directing people on stage, I really felt like a part of something bigger. I felt like part of the celebration, and I was really glad that they thought of me. They let us just fly. It was such a gift.” Taylor was equally excited about the comedy skits he got to film that aired during the show. “Those were so much fun! Doing sex work, when you have long hours, sometimes it can start feeling like work. And with them, it never felt like work. It just felt like we were having fun. We were having a good time, and meeting everyone there and the vibe on the set—it was so crisp.” Added Ledger: “I felt very honored to do it, because it’s a big moment for us in this industry. You have all these people from all these different studios from around the world, and it’s really the only chance where we can be in one place and be celebrated, and to just have a little moment. It’s really important, and I’m glad that they were able to do in person this year…it’s been too long.” Members of the community were also happy to see content creators nominated and celebrated in three new fan categories this year—with many of them in attendance. “I personally can’t ask for a better award, and I think everyone here would agree,” shared Wolf, who won Favorite Creator Site Star and was also up for Favorite All-Male Creator Vid (a threesome with Jason Luna and Brock Magnus). “Jason just started in the industry not too long ago, and he’s just blown up—there’s an energy that comes through on camera with him. So for him in particular—and I love Brock to death, too—but for Jason in particular, I was just so happy. It really excited him. I’m particularly proud of that (nomination), and I think it’s very exciting that content creators are now being recognized.” Morgxn Thicke was also a multiple nominee in the fan awards, including the same categories Wolf was. “It’s very important that content creators are getting acknowledged for the work that we’re putting in, because it is work—and I think getting rewarded for that makes sense. It’s very exciting. I’m so honored to have been able to meet Trip (Richards) and experience an exchange in energies with him. And that we are up for (Favorite All-Male Creator Vid) is so cool.” Sean Xavier, who was also up for Favorite All-Male Creator Vid with Rhyheim Shabazz, said the category additions were a major step in the right direction. “It’s beautiful, and I feel very fortunate to be one of the content creators on that ticket!” he laughed. “I imagine the content creator market is going to progress to something similar to what say the Tribeca Film Festival progressed to, and all of these indie film festivals have. You’ll have your blockbuster productions that are going to come out of Falcon, CockyBoys and the other big studios, and then you’ll have these small, independent works that will come from the models themselves. Because as we’re growing—and really as our pockets are growing—we’re going to have the capacity to create at a level that we didn’t before. And there are a number of us that aren’t going to want to take on a full production house or studio, but we have a vision that we want to make with some of the sex that we do, and you’ll see some of that come to life.” Max Konnor was also nominated for two of the content creator categories, including his scene with Sean Austin—who does very little studio work. “It was a really hot scene. I had been gunning for him for a while, and he finally messaged me one day and was like, ‘I’m coming to New York!’ And I told my team, ‘Set it up! Let’s do it!’” Konnor smiled. “So including these scenes and performers is really important. It really gave a lot of content creators a sense of being a part of the industry as a whole, and I know a lot of content creators who were nominated were so excited and so happy that they got to be part of all this. On a larger scheme, it brings a sense of unity, of being together. It kind of takes away that separation of studio porn and content creators, and so many of us do both anyway.” Konnor was also happy to see more trans representation across various fan-voted categories, noting it’s a trend being seen across the industry—like the casting of Noah Way in the new OUTtv series X-Rated: LA, a spinoff of the successful X-Rated: New York series that Konnor appears in. “It’s very important. It gives everybody a sense of community, that they are recognized, and that they have a place, you know? There are a lot of trans performers that really don’t feel like they have a place, and it’s very import to make everybody feel comfortable—especially in this industry. It’s often a very isolating job. And so to have that sense of, ‘I belong here, people see me, people respect what I do,’ it’s very important. It promotes the fact that this is a job, and that it can be a respectable place to be.” Alpha Wolfe was also excited to see more trans representation, and a larger amount of nominees in the Best Bisexual Scene category—up to 15 from five in previous years, proof that performers are branching out more than they have before. “A lot of gay performers are doing bi stuff, like my good friends Dillon (Diaz) and Jake (Waters). They’re together, but they do a lot of bi stuff, they do a lot of trans stuff, even done straight scenes. That crossover bridge was built by people like Dante (Colle) and Pierce (Paris). Now people are like, ‘Hey, that bridge is open, there are more opportunities and we can make more money.’ But it’s also about us being entertainers, and there are people that need to see this stuff.” Wolfe was in attendance with his girlfriend, “a big mogul in the trans community—YouTuber, no porn. And all the gay boys love her. They watch her and follow her, so she gets more attention than I do no matter where we go,” he laughs. “I was in a place where I just got divorced, and I was like, ‘I’m going to be me.’ I was kind of like secluding my true self. And by making that decision, I was like, ‘Wow, look at all these opportunities I’ve been given because I’ve been authentic.’ “I kind of opened myself up because I was living straight my whole life. I opened myself up and tried something new, and I was like, ‘This is awesome.’ I have some friends that I’m like, ‘Hey, why don’t you try?’ Just be more open and accepting. I was so judgmental when I was younger, thinking that my way was the only way. But by doing porn and opening myself up to just loving people and seeing people for who they are, it’s opened up more opportunity for me and it dropped all that pride. And I just became more loving through it, you know? I see that happening with other people, too.” Photography by Jeff Koga