On The Red Carpet At The "Oscars Of Porn"

Bill Geist Brings Us An Awards Extravaganza Unthreatened By The Writers' Strike

(CBS)  Bill Geist brings us an expose, of sorts, at one of the most overlooked extravaganzas in show business: the "Oscars of porn."

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With the Golden Globes ceremony cancelled by the writers' strike, and the Oscars threatened, film fans were starved for red carpet glitz!

Don't worry, we're here to help.

We visited the red carpet of one of the most overlooked extravaganzas in show business … the Oscars of porn

Yes, the stars are out tonight. They're almost completely out.

In my best Joan Rivers guise, I asked one young woman about the black dress she was wearing, or more accurately perhaps, not wearing.

Frankly, she was attired but she admitted she was not wearing any underwear.

I was. Well, one out of two ain't bad.

And of course you have to ask those on the red carpet if they're nervous.

A woman named Audrey said, "Yes, you know it's the funniest thing, I can [bleep], [bleep] and [bleep-bleep], yet to say 'thank you' for an award would be nerve-wracking."

You should also ask them about their work, their art, their films. The plot, perhaps?

"Actually, there is one ironically," another woman named Sammy said. "There's a Tupperware party. And we were supposed to be a bunch or ritzy housewives showing each other how to use our Tupperware and then [bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep]."

Yes, the 25th Annual AVN Adult Movie Awards ceremony went ahead last weekend in Las Vegas - unaffected by the writers' strike, perhaps because porn films have so little dialogue.

Stormy Daniels was up for 25 awards, including best screenplay and best director. "A lot of people don't believe there are screenplays in porn," she told Geist. "'Operation: Desert Stormy' has an 82-page screenplay, so there's a lot of dialogue, yes."

"When do you talk?" Geist asked.

"Between sex."

The red carpet was awash with with porn celebrities, like Tera Patrick and Hall of Famers Dyana Lauren and Steven St. Croix.

But the biggest star in this parallel universe is Jenna Jameson, accompanied by ultimate fighter Tito Ortiz.

She's a crossover star, as they say, having appeared on hundreds of magazine covers, written a book that was a NY Times bestseller, "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star" (HarperCollins), and even been enshrined in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It doesn't get any more mainstream than that.

"I need to be cloned on some level," Jameson told Geist.

"I agree, I think every man in America should have one," he said. "No offense."

Among her other accomplishments: debating at Oxford. "Yes, I debated about the right to view pornography. And I won, 286 to 1. I'm a very convincing girl."

The awards are preceded by the Adult Entertainment Expo, a big porno trade show with about 350 exhibitors.

And they do exhibit … everything. Of course we really can't show you much of anything.

We had to kind of tiptoe around the fringes of an expo we found both bizarre and perplexing, frankly.

One young man there was passing out Bibles, under a sign which read "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

"Does Jesus love porn stars?" we asked.

"For sure, he loves porn stars as much as pastors," the man said.

There were also the peddlers of fake flesh: high-end love dolls, as they're called.

"We have ten different bodies," the salesman said. "We have sixteen different faces, people come to our Web site, they pick the face they like, they pick the body they like, then they put them together - building their ultimate woman."

They're well beyond the blow-up doll. One of the seller's dolls became a crossover star itself last year, playing a major role in the recent Hollywood film "Lars and the Real Girl."

Then there was Ron Jeremy, a porn legend. "I started in '78, [when] porno was more taboo."

While not matinee-idol handsome, Ron has hidden qualities. Fortunately he was here unveiling something else … a new PETA campaign, promoting the spaying and neutering of pets.

Fans are welcome at the trade show; porn is fan-friendly. Very.

"It's cool, yeah," Tera Patrick said. "I call this Fan Appreciation Week."

Fans are even welcome to attend the awards ceremony, where winners are recognized in 114 categories. Can we list some of the categories? No! Can we even say the names of the films? No! Except to say they use language normally heard only at bachelors' parties and doctors' offices.

There were acceptance speeches … and there were tears.

And on this historic evening, Jenna Jameson shocked the world by announcing she'd no longer appear in porno films.

"I'm launching my fragrance, which is called 'Heartbreaker," she told Geist. "I'm about to launch my reality show, about to launch my clothing line 'Hello Jenna.' I feel like I'm paving new ground for a lot of women in the industry."

Women like 20-year-old Terra Wray, who when asked said she didn't want to be a Hollywood starlet. "No, I wanted to be a porn star." Which she now is. "I know, dreams really do come true."

… Which will have to pass for a touching ending at the "Oscars of porn."

[cacrc]

I guess it''s a sign of the times... "Sunday Morning" has joined the rest of the world by lowering their standards by airing the "Porn Oscars". I''d expect this type of filth to be shown on those channels (and shows) that cater to this industry. It is proven that if we don''t speak up to such offenses, things will only get worse. Even sometimes by speaking up, things continue to go down the gutter. But at least I''ve spoken up for those who suffer most from this type of moral indecency... our children.
Please reconsider your actions having aired such a feature as this and issue an apology to the millions who were offended.
Thank you for the time to listen to my complaint.

[karensbell]

I am not questioning whether porn is a subject for comedy. That is irrelevant. I am expressing my disappointment that Sunday Morning would have the poor taste to choose to air such a piece . What happened to integrity and class? Why should a parent have to be warned on Sunday morning to remove their children from the T.V. set? The decision to air this piece, in my opinion, was extremely poor judgement. I expected better.

[cher19]

Yuck!! Yuck!! Yuck!! VERY dissapointed in this piece...not only that it was on the show, but waaaaaay too much time was spent on it. Basically a nationwide ''commercial'' for the porn industry. Good going...

[cher19]

My sister and I hurried home Sunday morning to catch our favorite show!! We were sooooo dissapointed in the Porn Oscar bit with Bill Geist! I can see just mentioning it becasue it is there, but you spent sooooooo much time on it! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!
cheryl carlson
Ellensburg, Washington

[fromkstoo]

Thank you CBS News for not being afraid of this topic. I find it amusing to read the comments here and find people complaining about Bill Geist''s report. It wasn''t meant to be a "hard look" at the adult industry and those of you who didn''t heed Charles Osgood''s warning about letting your children leave the room are probably the same parents who allow their children to surf the internet in their room unsupervised. I have met a number of women who work in the adult industry and like any other industry, some are extremely intelligent and some are not. Today, a woman can choose what she wants to do and many of them are behind the camera as well. Before you claim the degradation of women, do some homework.

Bravo to Bill and his team for showing us another quirky story about America.

[blahblahbla5]

Re: "Porn is not a subject for comedy."

I must disagree. To the contrary, it is
a rich and diverse source of humor, in
my opinion.

I was just going to add that I was
curious as to what the award looks like!

Ditto. And what are the statuettes called? The Fluffers?

[newsdot]

I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED TO SEE MY FAVORITE NEWS SHOW HAVE A FEATURE ON PORN STARS ON SUNDAY MORNING WHEN WE ARE WATCHING TV AND OUR CHILDREN COULD SEE THIS ALSO. EVENING NEWS? PERHAPS.
MORNING NEWS. NO WAY.

[blahblahbla5]

Re: "Porn is not a subject for comedy."

I must disagree. To the contrary, it is
a rich and diverse source of humor, in
my opinion.

I was just going to add that I was
curious as to what the award looks like!

Ditto. And what are the statuettes called? The Fluffers?

[blahblahbla5]

Re: "Porn is not a subject for comedy."

I must disagree. To the contrary, it is
a rich and diverse source of humor, in
my opinion.

I was just going to add that I was
curious as to what the award looks like!

Ditto. And what are the statuettes called? The Fluffers?

[blahblahbla5]

Re: "Porn is not a subject for comedy."

I must disagree. To the contrary, it is
a rich and diverse source of humor, in
my opinion.

I was just going to add that I was
curious as to what the award looks like!

Ditto. And what are the statuettes called? The Fluffers?

[watcher269-2009]

There was a LONG line of Republicans in the GAAY Male section showing their support.

[closethippy1]

*** means s.e.x in my previous post.

[closethippy1]

I''ve always said the Bible and pretty much all the other "holy books" were written by people who were at the margins of society. People who didn''t want to participate in the pagan festivities of their own community and would look at them with disdain, envy and jealousy.
So they came up with a way to make people feel guilty. Sodom and Gomorrah had to be destroyed, they were simply having too much fun.
Jesus said that if you have you lustful thoughts about a woman you are sinning.
In Hindu and Islam submission is demanded of women.
And to what end? Why are these people so riled up by someone expressing their sexual appeal?
There are four ways you can interact with a human: 1) Just saying "Hi", 2) Family and friends, 3) Business, 4) ***.
And *** is half of who we are, the other half made up by our brains. I don''t understand how getting indignant about the expression of *** can be a "moral" thing.

[mygramma]

The blue noses here who have such strong objections to the CBS program and the porn industry should keep in mind that the violence and violations depicted in mainstream TV and the movies is not a characteristic of the porn industry.

The exploitation of women hogwash is just that - hogwash. It is always amazing that the idea of the exploitation of young men is never brought up as if only women are subject to exploitation. Stupid.

The men and women in the porn business know exactly what they are doing, or they soon learn. They aren''t hurting anyone or getting hurt. They have the option of declining to do any given scene while filming or opting out of the business entirely at any time.

I would rather watch a good porn lick than Bawbwa Walters or the the chief moron Larry king any time.

[feelfree1]

Re: "A woman named Audrey said, "Yes, you know it''s the funniest thing, I can [bleep], [bleep] and [bleep-bleep], yet to say ''thank you'' for an award would be nerve-wracking."

###

Re: "Porn is not a subject for comedy."

I must disagree. To the contrary, it is a rich and diverse source of humor, in my opinion.

I was just going to add that I was curious as to what the award looks like!

[thinker51-2009]

Porn is not a subject for comedy. The exploitation of women is appalling. As a mother (of both daughters and sons) and as a teacher, I was disgusted by your light-hearted approach to this. You ought to be ashamed for including such a piece of garbage in what is otherwise an exemplary program. You owe your viewers an apology!

[jw218389]

What I find unbelieveable is how many Bible Thumpers know all the names of the porn stars!

Read these threads and you will see constant references to "jenna" etc...

I think many of these people have a little "Jimmy Swaggart factor" they need to deal with.

Perhaps viewing porn would be a good outlet for their religious fundamentalist repression.

GET OVER IT!!! THIS IS COMEDY!!!

Great story CBS!!

[gce65]

Maybe he should have explored a new demographic in porn: christian porn stars! Maybe that would have appealed to more Americans. ha!

[llbpe]

While I was not crazy about the topic of today''s story, my main complaint is that I found it to be sexist. While Mr. Geist is ogling the many, many women interviewed (in addition, not very professional), the story didn''t cover any male actors. Maybe it was the editing, but in the end, still sexist.

[hinojosa13]

Glamorizing and condoning porn? I really thought more of Sunday Morning until now. I am so disappointed. I wonder what all the young girls who were watching thought. I%u2019m guessing they want to be a porn star when they grow up...because it seems so neat! If the objectification and degradation of women was the message you wanted to get across, then you did it. Nice job Sunday Morning.