Legal issues
In February 2013, the police, while looking into reports of Kink having firearms and a "makeshift shooting range" on the premises, arrested the company's CEO and founder Peter Acworth for possession of cocaine and delaying arrest,[59] though the case was thrown out in court, a development Acworth attributed to his wealth and privilege despite his admitted guilt, which prompted him to organize a charitable event for the benefit of the Three Strikes Justice Center in 2014.[60]
Four women who worked as camgirls for Kink sued the company in 2013 after the lead plaintiff, Maxine Holloway, alleged she was fired by Kink after she attempted to organize other camgirls to protest Kink's decision to stop paying camgirls a base salary in favor of commission in June 2012.[61] Peter Acworth claimed Holloway was not fired, she was simply asked to stop booking performances with Kink temporarily, as her shows were becoming "unprofitable" and she "was often late and canceled several shows at the last minute."[62] The case was settled out of court, with one of the stipulations of the settlement being that the plaintiffs were barred from speaking publicly about their experiences while they had worked for Kink.[63][64]
A lawsuit was filed against Kink in June 2015 by an editor and production assistant who alleged Kink failed to provide adequate security and other safety measures during the production of a video for the "Public Disgrace" series shot at the 2014 Folsom Street Fair. As a result, the plaintiff alleged she was "groped, fondled, and harassed" by members of the public throughout the shoot, and that safety concerns she brought up to Kink before and after the shoot led to her being laid off by Kink. In response to a demurrer by Kink in which it asserted the plaintiff's complaints were barred because the plaintiff "consented to or welcomed the actions complained of and made her own sexually explicit statements and behaved in sexually explicit way in the workplace", the plaintiff's attorney stated, "This is not an allegation that she was uncomfortable having witnessed a sexual act, this is an allegation that she was sexually assaulted in her workplace. And no one consents to be sexually assaulted." Mona Wales, the star of the video, stated the shoot had unspecified safety issues, but insisted that afterward all of them were taken into consideration and properly addressed by Kink.[65]
The demurrer by Kink was subject to a tentative ruling that overturned it on the basis of it being "a strawman argument that ignores the allegations of the complaint" in October 2015.[66] The case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by the plaintiff in June 2016.[67]
A woman and two men who claimed to have contracted HIV while performing for Kink in 2013 sued the company in August 2015.[68] Kink, in a press release, announced no one, like Aubrey Kate and Xander Corvus, who was present during the shoots the plaintiffs cited as being the ones where they contracted HIV tested positive for the virus,[69] an assertion backed by an investigation conducted by the Free Speech Coalition after two of the plaintiffs, Cameron Bay and Rod Daily, were first discovered to be HIV positive in 2013.[70] Kink further commented that the suggested transmission methods (like semen being splashed in the eye) were "unsupported by any existing science" and posited the lawsuits were being backed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation,[69] which previously complained to state officials like Cal/OSHA and Nevada OSHA[71] about Kink's policy of condom usage by performers being optional, which lead to Kink being fined more than $78,000 (reduced to $27,000 on appeal[72]
Kink requested financial coverage for the three HIV cases from the State Compensation Insurance Fund in June 2017, but the SCIF argued it was under no obligation to provide Kink with any financial support,[77] and was judged exempt from having to do so in November 2017,[78] as was Seneca Insurance Company.[74] Atain Specialty Insurance Company was also judged exempt from providing Kink with financial support for the cases the following December,[79] despite having been previously judged liable to do so in November 2016.[80] The Ninth Court Circuit of Appeals heard arguments from Kink and Attain over whether Attain was liable to indemnify Kink in July 2020.[68]
Kink was fined by Cal/OSHA for safety violations, including lack of condom usage, in 2016. The fine was $146,600.[81] The fine, like an earlier one levied against Kink by Cal/OSHA in 2014, was prompted by complaints filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.[82] Kink alleging the complaints and fine were "politically motivated" and "selective enforcement" received support from organizations like AVN[83] and the Free Speech Coalition.[84]
In a 2017 interview with AVN, Steve Holmes revealed he and Princess Donna were arrested and briefly jailed twice for shooting "Public Disgrace" scenes for Kink in Barcelona.[85]
