Porn actor and producer James Deen “vigorously denies” accusations that he violated workplace safety laws by failing to provide condoms on set.
“I gave the performers the option to perform with condoms, however they desired not to use condoms and I honored their requests,” Deen said in a statement to TheWrap on Thursday.
As TheWrap previously reported, Deen’s production company is facing fines up to $77,875 for the violations.
But Deen says he never put any of his actors at risk.
“At no point was any adult performer exposed to any disease while working for James Deen Productions,” Deen said. “At no time did any performer contract any illness or suffer any injury while working for James Deen Productions. None of the citations issued by Cal/OSHA even allege that there was any actual injury or illness that occurred. The vast majority of the $77,875.00 in fines was for potential exposure, not actual injuries or even an actual exposure to any illness.”
In legal documents obtained by TheWrap, investigators at Cal/OSHA (California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health) found that Third Rock Enterprises, also known as James Deen Productions, “failed to make the hepatitis B vaccine and vaccination series [available] to all employees who have had occupational exposure and to make available a post-exposure evaluation and follow-up for bloodborne pathogens exposure to all employees who have had an exposure incident.”
Failure to uphold the bloodborne pathogens standard resulted in an $18,000 fine.
Other serious violations included the failure to “maintain an effective injury and Illness Prevention Program,” which prompted a $21,600 fine for the company. In total, there are four violations classified as “serious,” one of which also states that the “employer failed to require the use of engineering controls [condoms] and work practice controls [condoms] … to eliminate or minimize employee exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials during the production activities associated with adult content videos or media.”
“Of the four serious violations,” says the Deen statement, “one was for failure to maintain a written employer injury and illness program, which James Deen Productions vigorously denies.”
A spokesperson for the California Dept. of Industrial Relations told TheWrap that Deen’s company has 15 working days to appeal the citation. If it chooses not to appeal, it will have to pay the fines and provide proof that the problem has been addressed.
In the statement, Deen also complains that he’s been unfairly targeted.
“The fines presented against my company are significantly higher and not one person was exposed to or contracted any illness on my sets,” adding, “I am just a small production company, but intend to do what I can to stand up to AHF and Cal/OSHA dictating to the fans what they should and shouldn’t view in the privacy of their own homes.”