Celebrity Sex Tapes

Paris Hilton’s sex tape was one of those things that you always knew was coming; it was just a matter of when. The hard-partying heiress unwittingly played part in what would become an award winning sex tape. It has been distributed as “1 Night in Paris” and won multiple recognitions through the AVN Awards. It took home the top prizes for the following categories: “Best Selling Title of the Year,” “Best Overall Marketing Campaign: Individual Project,” and “Best Renting Title of the Year.” So far it has sold a whopping 600,000 copies and been downloaded countless times.

That said, the Paris Hilton sex tape is often ridiculed for the simple fact that during the shooting, Paris is well… acting like Paris. She answers her phone during the recording and also poses constantly for the camera with dark almost kohl-rimmed eyes. The quality of the initial sex tape was very grainy due to the poor quality night vision camera recording technique and was off-putting to some viewers who wanted to see a little more. For that reason Rick Salomon, the boyfriend featured in the tape, signed a distribution deal with Red Light District Video which led to the development of a much better quality edited dvd which would come to be known as “1 Night in Paris.” Initially, Salomon claimed that his roommate had stole the Paris sex tape to sell, but as he became more and more invested in the business aspect of the sex tape, it became apparent that perhaps that was not quite true. Saloman also claims to own online casinos and the peddling of sex tapes is a popular side job for entrepreneurs in the gambling business.

Paris sued Red Light Video in an attempt to halt distribution of the video; an attempt which was unsuccessful. It is rumored that she received a fairly large settlement of $400,000 in addition to a percentage of the sales for each copy of “1 Night in Paris.” It’s never been officially proven, but it does seem that something kept Paris from pursuing further legal action against Red Light Video. It might have even been the right choice. Since then, her career has continued to expand and she’s easily known worldwide, despite her numerous poor choices which have landed her in trouble prior to and since the sex tape incident.

Just when you thought Dustin Diamond had officially lost his house to foreclosure and fallen off the surface of the Earth, a new Screech sex tape was “leaked” to celebrity image broker David Hans Schmidt. In turn, Schmidt hooked up the Screech sex tape with celebrity porn distributor Red Light District and suddenly Screech returned to the forefront of raunchy pop culture conversation. I say “leaked” because there is a lot of speculation that Diamond’s “buy this t-shirt and help me save my house from foreclosure” campaign was fraudulent. You remember, the one where he advertised t-shirts that said “I paid 15 bucks to save Screech’s house” Once people lost interest in that story, it only seemed like a few months before his popularity was back up, thanks to the risqué acts in the sex tape called “Screeched” officially, but is also known as “Saved by the Smell” thanks to some less than conventional sex acts.

screech21.jpgPorn reviewers have reported that the actually depictions of sex in “Screeched” aren’t that great, probably due to Diamond’s insistence that the film was made to brag to his friends how much he could get girls to do on camera. Therefore, there’s no so much emphasis on the sex, just the crazy things he convinces them to do while the camera is rolling. That said, it’s still pretty insane that he managed to find a bride-to-be at her bachelorette party and one of her bridesmaids who were willing to go to his hotel room to film such a raunchy sex tape.

screech31.jpgHow raunchy, you ask? The most famous part of the Screech sex tape, which has probably made it even more widely watched than if it was simply Screech and some hardcore sex, is the Dirty Sanchez. Yes, that Dirty Sanchez. Just the inclusion of this sex act has made “Screeched” a must-discuss for many of the more adventurous media outlets. In any case, if you get through the Screech sex tape and still want more, it does include some bonus scenes with actual porn stars, so I guess you will get your money’s worth, whether you like the poo or not.

In my opinion, however, the Screech sex tape just seems like one more trick in the string of actions that Dustin Diamond has tried—whether its to raise his profile in Hollywood and escape the Screech typecast or just gross out potential fans, who knows?

Kim Kardashian Sex Tape

You would think by now, that anyone with even a shred of fame would know better than to make a sex tape. Or to at least to burn all copies when the break up occurs. However, Kim Kardashian is apparently no genius. After all, her biggest claim to fame is the voluptuous curve of her backside, However, co-sex-tape-recorder Ray-J, little brother to hip hop singer Brandy, may be a little smarter than he’s given credit for. Was the release of “Kim Kardashian Superstar” all his fault? It seems so; and it seems even more likely that it was no accident. Check it out.

The Facts.

The sex tape that would become a porn bestseller was filmed several years ago when Kardashian and Ray-J were dating and remained out of the public eye for a while.

Meanwhile, Kim’s career begins to move a little more quickly thanks to her close association with fellow sex-tape celeb Paris Hilton.

The tape reached porn media company Vivid Videos via a third-party seller who received $1 million for the footage, which includes approximately fifteen minutes of hardcore sex.

Kim Kardashian sued Vivid Videos hoping to block the raunchy sex tape from being distributed, but ultimately she decided to drop the charges against the porn peddlers and settle out of court. Read: a five million dollar settlement to Kardashian with unknown terms and specifics.

The Kim Kardashian sex tape was rumored to have a limited time of distribution according to terms of the settlement, but since sales of the sex tape have been phenomenal, it is unknown whether it will ever be off the shelves for good.

The Question.

With such a high demand for celebrity sex tapes (meaning exceptionally high prices for those who sell the sex tapes to the distribution companies), is it possible that Ray-J himself sold the sex tape to Vivid Videos in order to gain more exposure for his own career?

Seems pretty likely. On the night of the release of “Kim Kardashian Superstar,” Ray-J hosted a celebration in Las Vegas which was complete with a Kim Kardashian look-a-like contest. Not only has Ray-J’s fame risen substantially since the release of the sex tape (did anyone even know Brandy had a little brother before this?), but he’s also secured other potential roles in pornos. Way to go Brandy’s little bro!

kim kardashian sex tape 2

Even if you haven’t seen them, you’ve no doubt heard about them.  They always contain shaky, grainy footage at first.  The camera pans at odd intervals this way and that as one of the participants steadies him (or her) self into position or mounts the camera on a tripod or some other surface.  When they come into focus, you can’t quite believe it’s them at first.  Her hair may be in disarray or he isn’t “pimped out” looking the way that he usually does when seen in the public eye.  But after a few seconds you realize that it really is them.  The celebrity that you see acting so perfect and stately on the red carpet is actually having sex right in front of your eyes and the footage was as accessible as performing a simply online search.

Celebrity sex tapes are a huge deal in Hollywood and when they leak there is never a small amount of excitement about them.  It seems as though everyone wants to see their favorite star in their most compromising and private moments and are willing to go against that star’s wishes to download their private home movies, watch them, and even share them with their friends.  It’s just too good to pass up.

When the Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson sex tape was made public the media went wild trying to cover just what happened and how it got leaked.  While the couple adamantly asserts that the tape was stolen from their home, this story has been questioned time and again by speculators that noticed that, instead of becoming a detriment to their careers, it actually caused resurgence in interest in the two.  In order to make the absolute most out of a bad situation the couple decided to allow the tape to be marketed and sold since it was already leaked and bound to be seen worldwide.

Other celebrities that have been caught on film in the past few years include Paris Hilton, Vince Neil, Colin Farrell and many, many more.  It almost seems like a rite of passage of sorts in the new millennium to be caught in some kind of lewd or scandalous behavior only to come out squeaky clean and more popular than ever.

Sex tapes can become public in a variety of ways.  Perhaps the most usual is for an ex-lover to come forward to capitalize financially on the trysts he or she held with the celebrity.  This was the case with Paris Hilton when ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon chose to release footage of the two having sex and sell the copies under the title, 1 Night in Paris.  Tapes can also be pilfered from stars’ homes and personal belongings as well, which is what is said to have happened to Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson.

Most intriguing, perhaps, is the public view on celebrity sex tapes.  While if you ask almost anyone on the street what they think of the celebrity sex tape being made public and the celebrity shown they will usually reply with some sort of sympathy for the celebrity or admonishment for their behavior.  However, if the vast majority of the public feels this way, why is the download and purchase numbers for this footage in the tens of millions?  If one chooses to look at the situation in a certain light, the existence of celebrity sex tapes and their popularity say just as much about the public as they do the celebrity depicted.  Whether they choose to admit it or not, the average person is enthralled with the notion of seeing celebrities – nearly any celebrities – out of the normal view of being perfectly manicured and polished standing on a red carpet.  Perhaps because it makes the celebrity seem a little more real – a little more like an average person.