Owner of French porn site Jacquie et Michel is arrested over rape and pimping allegations and ‘three male actors are detained for gang-rape’ following claims women were abused on set
- Michel Piron, 64, arrested for sexual assault amid abuse allegations on porn sets
- Three actors also detained for rape, gang rape, pimping and human trafficking
- Porn baron Piron’s wife was also arrested, a lawyer for site Jacquie et Michel said
- ‘It’s a great day for women victims’, said prosecutor for feminist groups who filed
A major French porn site owner, his wife and three male porn stars were arrested over a flurry of rape and pimping allegations, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Porn baron Michel Piron, 64, was detained for sexual assault and complicity in rape, pimping and human trafficking.
Three feminist groups who filed the complaints claim the industry is rife with sexual abuse of actresses, AFP reported.
Protesters gathered outside the company’s Paris sex shop over mistreatment in February
X-rated content site Jacquie & Michel bills itself as an industry leader in ‘amateur’ pornography
Porn site Jacquie et Michel bills itself as a leading hub ‘amateur’ adult content.
It has been tied to abuse claims made by women who say they suffered sexual violence on set.
Alongside Piron and his wife, three actors were detained for rape, gang rape, pimping and human trafficking.
A source close to the case told AFP they are male porn stars.
Nicolas Cellupica, a lawyer for the company that owns the website, confirmed that Piron’s wife was also arrested.
‘It’s a great day for all women victims [and] the end of impunity for the criminal pornographic industry,’ said Lorraine Questiaux, a lawyer for the three feminist groups who filed the complaint on behalf of victims.
The French porn industry is undergoing a reckoning tied to alleged on-set abuse (file image)
‘There’s still a lot to do but it’s an important new step that places human dignity and the fight against sexual exploitation at the heart of penal priorities,’ she added.
Police opened an investigation into the website in July 2020 after feminist groups said actresses complained of being subjected to non-consensual, ‘out of the ordinary and painful’ sexual acts.
Mr Cellupica said Piron was oblivious to the accusations of violence.
‘He’s always said that he’s on the side of the victims if actresses were submitted to acts of sexual violence that he was perfectly unaware of,’ Cellupica said, adding that Jacquie et Michel never produced adult entertainment videos but only distributed them.
Last month, the site’s representatives and France’s other major porn site Dorcel were grilled by senators over practices in the industry after dozens of women came forward with abuse stories.
In October, four French porn actors were charged with rape for the first time over videos available for streaming on the ‘French Bukkake’ website.
At least twelve people, including producers nicknamed ‘Pascal OP’ and ‘Mat Hadrix’, are being investigated for human trafficking, gang rape and pimping.
Feminists in France and elsewhere have ramped up campaigning to lift the taboo over violence in an industry in which women have long been portrayed as consenting to such acts.
In the US, porn star Ron Jeremy is due to stand trial for the rape or sexual assault of 21 women and girls.
A Los Angeles judge ruled in March that Jeremy must first undergo a psychiatric assessment.
Source: Read Full Article
