Porn Star Tests Positive For HIV But Follow-Up Test Is Negative, Adult Industry Group Says; Production Stoppage Called Off

Following what it called a “possible positive” test for HIV by a performer in the adult industry, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a trade and advocacy organization for the industry, called for a voluntary stoppage of all production on adult videos Friday. The group reported that the confirmatory test Saturday had come back negative, indicating what FSC called “a false positive” on the initial test. The group encouraged production to resume immediately.

“It’s important to remember that production holds are part of a functioning safety system,” the group said in a statement on its website. “So long as performers have private lives, we can never eliminate their risk of contracting HIV. However, we can make sure that should a performer contract HIV, that we stop it before it is transmitted to other performers.”

The Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC) issued a request for an “industry-wide hold while doctors perform confirmatory tests,” on Friday as well. Neither group named the performer, citing HIPAA regulations, but did say it would be retesting others in the industry who had done scenes with the performer who tested positive.

"Out of an abundance of precaution, we will be retesting anyone who might have had contact with the performer within the testing window, and asking that producers stop filming until we know more," APAC said in the statement. “APAC is asking fellow performers to show compassion towards each other and to our unnamed peer who is currently waiting for the results of their confirmatory test and to abstain from speculating about the patient's identity.”

Few performers use condoms during video productions, but the industry has a voluntary, twice-a-month testing protocol. Most major studios won't shoot with a performer unless he or she has recently tested negative. But initial HIV tests performed under the FSC’s Performer Availability Screening Service are not 100 percent accurate, which is why the follow-up test was called for and eventually ruled the unnamed performer HIV-negative.

In November 2012, Los Angeles voters passed a measure mandating condom use in porn videos shot in the city, despite a large, coordinated campaign against it by the porn industry. But it has done little to change condom use in shooting.

Industry veterans and advocates argue that porn using condoms is less popular and costs more money to produce. Many have fought the proposed bans, while much of the industry has simply moved shooting outside of Los Angeles to areas like Ventura County or to other cities outside of California, mainly Miami. Before the condom requirement, known as Measure B, took effect around 480 adult films were shot in Los Angeles each year. In 2013, the first year of the ban, that number dropped to about 40, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The latest incident is the first public HIV scare in the industry since 2013. FSC confirmed that year that adult film star Cameron Bay tested positive for the virus.

"As difficult as this news is for me today, I am hopeful that no other performers have been affected," she said in the statement. "I plan on doing everything possible to assist the medical professionals and my fellow performers. Following that, my long-term plan is to take care of myself and my health."