Spoiler alert: This story is a preview of \u201cThe Last Days of August,\u201d a new \u201cSerial\u201d-style podcast from journalist Jon Ronson that will be released on Audible on Jan. 3.<\/i><\/p>\n
On Dec. 5, 2017, the body of 23-year-old porn superstar August Ames was found in a park near Los Angeles. The cause of death was asphyxiation from hanging.<\/p>\n
A brutally simple narrative quickly formed around her suicide. Cyberbullies, the story went, drove Ames to kill herself after she tweeted about not wanting to work with \u201ccrossover\u201d male porn stars who also made gay porn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Last Days of August\u201d rewrites the story of Ames\u2019 death. Ronson\u2019s broader version of events shifts the blame away from cyberbullies and instead places the tweetstorm and Ames\u2019 death within a longer timeline of disturbing events. At the same time, it contextualizes porn stars Jessica Drake and Jaxton Wheeler, two of the major villains from the original narrative, while discovering new actors and events which helped push Ames over the edge.<\/p>\n
In one particularly harrowing portion of the seven-episode podcast series, Ronson and his producer Lina Misitzis dissect Ames\u2019 final porn scene, which was shot weeks before the flurry of tweets and has never been released to the public. They make the argument that her last scene was the real trigger for her suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you think about it, what we were watching in that moment was the moment that she decided to die. That\u2019s what we were watching and it\u2019s awful,\u201d Ronson told The Post. \u201cThat was the truth of it, that was the moment when she reached the point of no return. The Twitter bullying may have been the icing on the cake, as some people described it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ronson and Misitzis felt comfortable coming to this conclusion because they were able to get access to text messages Ames sent to a friend about the scene.<\/p>\n
The podcasters also took a deep dive into Ames\u2019 (real name Mercedes Grabowski) troubled childhood, cross-examined her husband, porn producer Kevin Moore, and broke down the decline in Ames\u2019 mental health during the final days of her life.<\/p>\n
Before any of that, however, Ronson and Misitzis establish their bona fides by taking an ax to two of the main pillars of the cyberbullying storyline.<\/p>\n
That story, which was pushed by Ames\u2019 husband, Moore, began on Dec. 3 when Ames tweeted: \u201cWhichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow for @EroticaXNews, you\u2019re shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn, just to let cha know. BS is all I can say\u2026 Do agents really not care about who they\u2019re representing?\u2026 I do my homework for my body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trying to clarify her position, she later added: \u201cNOT homophobic. Most girls don\u2019t shoot with guys who have shot gay porn, for safety. That\u2019s just how it is with me. I\u2019m not putting my body at risk, i don\u2019t know what they do in their private lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following day, Drake, a longtime and respected porn star who has accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, took to Twitter to offer a rebuke of Ames\u2019 position.<\/p>\n
e pill. Either or we\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Adult Video News Awards \u2014 porn\u2019s version of the Oscars \u2014 which were held on Jan. 27, 2018, Moore stood before the entire industry and declared, \u201cWho you work with is up to you. It\u2019s your body, it\u2019s your choice. No agent, no producer, no company, and certainly not social media, decides what you do with your body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audience thunderously applauded Moore for his speech and some of the assembled porn stars wore T-shirts in memory of Ames.<\/p>\n
Awkwardly, Drake attended the AVNs and was in the audience when Moore made his speech.<\/p>\n
Ronson, who wrote a book called \u201cSo You\u2019ve Been Publicly Shamed,\u201d on the early days of cyberbullying, dissects Moore\u2019s version of events with the precision of a surgeon.<\/p>\n
For example, Ronson points out that a close reading of Drake\u2019s tweet reveals it to be relatively benign. Drake doesn\u2019t condemn Ames or even call her out by name. Drake simply gives an alternative point of view on Ames\u2019 health concerns.<\/p>\n
Ronson also highlights the fact that Drake was not acting with ill intent and could not have known the effect her words may or may not have had on Ames. Drake issued a heartfelt apology nonetheless, three days after Ames\u2019 death, and in a rare interview, tearfully revealed to Ronson that she, ironically, was now the subject of intense internet bullying.<\/p>\n
Ronson\u2019s reframing of Wheeler\u2019s indefensible tweet is even simpler. Wheeler sent his appalling message telling Ames to \u201cswallow a cyanide pill\u201d in the early hours of Dec. 5. Ames\u2019 final tweet, a simple \u201cf\u2013k y\u2019all,\u201d was sent on Dec. 4 and her body wasn\u2019t found until Dec. 5. Wheeler\u2019s tweet, Ronson figured out, was sent after Ames had already taken her own life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Last Days of August\u201d is full of details like these that Ronson and Misitzis dug up, which create a portrait of Ames that is harrowing, heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time.<\/p>\n
Despite surviving childhood sexual traumas, Ames moved to Los Angeles by herself and for all intents and purposes conquered porn. In her five-year career, she shot nearly 300 scenes and was nominated for Female Performer of the Year three times at the AVNs. She was also a fan favorite not only because of her pure natural beauty but because of her bubbly onscreen personality and exuberant sexuality. She was quite simply a joy to watch.<\/p>\n
scene was one of the hardest parts of the entire project, and in listening to Misitzis\u2019 description of its contents, it is easy to understand why.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn more than one occasion in the footage, Markus forcefully repositions August, which visibly startles her,\u201d Misitzis says in the final episode of the podcast. \u201cShe says \u2018Whoa s\u2013t!\u2019 and at one point Markus picks up her pink thong, stretches it around her head, jerks her around by it, and then shoves it in her mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of her scene, August is interviewed by a crew member to establish consent for legal purposes. She\u2019s staring straight into the camera, holding up her check for the day\u2019s work, her makeup\u2019s gone and her hair is pulled back, she looks resigned and emotional and hollow all at once. \u2018Were you treated OK?\u2019 she\u2019s asked. And flatly, and quietly she says, \u2018Yes.\u2019 For the first time in this footage, all the camera is focused on is August\u2019s face and she seems like she\u2019s verging on tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six weeks later, Ames killed herself.<\/p>\n
Around the same time, four other female porn stars lost their lives to drug overdoses or under mysterious circumstances.<\/p>\n
Moore tried to provide a wake-up call for the industry at the 2018 AVNs. At the same award show, Dupree won Male Performer of the Year. In the past 12 months, he has shot well over 200 scenes and picked up nine nominations for this year\u2019s AVNs. Once again, he is nominated for Male Performer of the Year.<\/p>\n
The porn machine stops for no one. Consumers, Ronson told The Post, don\u2019t care about the industry\u2019s problems \u201cbecause of their own shame about watching porn and not wanting to think about the life of the people in the porn business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to think of those people as a human, but it\u2019s for your own reason, not theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The more people learn about the porn industry, the less sexy it becomes.<\/p>\n\n
Spoiler alert: This story is a preview of \u201cThe Last Days of August,\u201d a new \u201cSerial\u201d-style podcast from journalist Jon Ronson that will be released on Audible on Jan. 3. On Dec. 5, 2017, the body of 23-year-old porn superstar August Ames was found in a park near Los Angeles. The cause of death was asphyxiation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[2998],"yoast_head":"\n