Porn director Tony T is hoping to stage his next money shot in the legal system.
Tony T, who last month was accused of sexually assaulting performer Nikki Benz during a shoot for Brazzers, has filed suit against Benz, Brazzers and Brazzers parent company MindGeek, claiming that he was defamed by accusations that he assaulted Benz during a shoot for Brazzers.
Performer Ramon Nomar, Benz’s scenemate in the Brazzers shoot, is also listed as a plaintiff in the suit.
The suit says that Tony T filmed two scenes with Benz (pictured) in December, one lesbian scene, and a second with Nomar the following day.
Later, Benz tweeted a claim that the director choked her with the camera rolling, writing, “Did you see the part where I said cut, where I said I’m not OK with this? … I said no.”
Benz added, “I guess rape scenes are in now, huh?”
The suit says that, on Dec. 20, Benz “began publishing extensive media feeds alleging that she had been raped and sexually assaulted during the filming on the previous day, accusing Plaintiffs Tony T and Ramon Nomar as the perpetrators of those acts against her.”
“All of the statements about the conduct and activities of Plaintiffs were false in that Defendant Nikki Benz [was not] assaulted nor raped during the shooting of the video,” the lawsuit reads.
As for Brazzers, which expressed its support for Benz after she tweeted her claims, the suit says that the company “ratified, adopted and repeated [Benz’s] statements” without investigating or watching the footage.
“As a proximate result of the above-described actions and publications of all Defendants, Plaintiff has suffered the loss of his reputation, and has sustained shame, mortification, and hurt feelings to his general damage,” the suit reads. “As a further proximate result of the above described publication, Plaintiff has suffered injury to his reputation in his business, profession and occupation.”
Alleging libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress and interference with economic advantage, he suit seeks unspecified damages.
Brazzers had no comment for TheWrap on the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for Benz has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Tony T and Nomar’s lawsuit arrives a day after their attorney screened the scene at the headquarters of adult industry trade publication Xbiz. According to a report published by Xbiz on Thursday, the raw footage played at the screening, which was attended by “select industry members,” Nomar and Benz were asked after their scene “if they were there of their own volition, whether they had fun, and whether they would do it again.”
Benz at first answered “no” to the last question, but subsequently answered “yes” in a second take.
In a Vocativ interview prior to the screening, Tony T declared, “I have been accused of something … I have the proof.” He added that “none of the stuff she ever claimed happened.” While the director did acknowledge that Benz said “cut,” he said, “The one time she said stop we stopped right away.”
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.