Gay Porn Stars We Lost In 2020

In August of this year, porn star Koldo Goran tweeted about three fellow performers who had recently died. In one of those instances, Goran’s tweet remains the only public notice that the performer, Dani Rivera, had been murdered. “I realize nobody talks about it, we are unprotected and forgotten;” Goran tweeted “We are humans, people, enough of contempt.”

Most gay news outlets choose to ignore the passing of all but the biggest names in the adult film industry.  Porn companies also seem reluctant to broadcast the passing of a performer who is still on their roster, forever young and present in their website content. An obit is a real boner killer, ya know? Why jeopardize the profit margin? Additionally, performers who abandon their porn personas and return to life with their real name often pass away unnoticed by former employers and co-workers.

Case in point: Roman Heart was about as big a star as you will find in gay porn: 2006 Freshmen of the Year, GayVN Best Newcomer winner, Falcon cover boy with an exclusive contract and a career lasting over a decade. Yet he passed away unnoticed in September of 2019. It was nearly a year before anyone in the business became aware of it.

Here is a list of gay porn stars of note that were lost in 2020. I post them here to prove Koldo Goran wrong – they are not forgotten:

1) Although Goran mentions that Macanao Torres died of cancer in the above tweet, the 35 year old Spaniard actually passed away in an apparent suicide on 12/30/19. He had worked for Cazzo, Jalif, UKNM and other studios.

2) Scotty Knox was only 20 years old when he died in a car accident on 1/13/20, but he had already appeared in over 20 scenes for Colby Knox.

3) Earlier this year I wrote about the passing of  Terry DeCarlo after a battle with cancer on 1/27/20. He worked primarily for Catalina and Robert Prion Studios in the early 1990’s before becoming an activist and community leader.

4) One would have to overlook a huge pile of reprehensible baggage to still be a fan of Sebastian Young, who met his end in a shootout with police after a high speed chase (3/11/20). The 37 year-old convicted sex offender appeared in close to 90 scenes over a decade for Bromo, Jet Set, Lucas, MEN, Next Door, Cockyboys and other studios.

5) The news of Ryan Fields‘ suicide (3/29/20) was tweeted out by fellow Broke Straight Boys model Damien Kyle. Fields was 25 years old and had been with Broke Straight Boys for over 5 years.

6) Dani Rivera was relatively new to adult films, with just a handful of recent releases for Men At Play. As mentioned by Koldo Goran in his tweet. Rivera was murdered on 8/21/20, although no other articles have appeared to fill in the details.

7) 33 year-old Ridder Rivera passed away of unknown causes (8/29/20). Over the past 3 years, the Cuban muscleman had worked with TimTales, Kristen Bjorn, Fuckermate and Raw Strokes, among other companies. I found this post on social media: “Born in Havana in 1987, he was a teacher and those who knew him stand out about him that he spoke several languages ​​and that he took great care of his family, especially his mother. He loved to dance…. took great care of his body and liked to show his followers on Facebook his training routines. “

8) Brazilian Theo Barone worked exclusively with the Hotboys website since 2018, although he had announced his retirement earlier this year. He was 27 when he succumbed to stomach cancer on 9/27/20.

9) Mack Daddy / Maximus Sky, 27, was killed in a Cincinnati, Ohio car collision (10/15/20). He had appeared in scenes for Flava Works, Bromo and Raw Rods, among other companies.

10) Chip Tanner‘s death (12/11/20) was officially ruled a suicide, although people who knew him have spoken out to say that the cause was autoerotic asphixia. The 32 year-old gymnast appeared in scenes for Randy Blue, Next Door Studios and several other companies between 2010-2015.

UPDATES:

Given the continued interest in this topic, here are additional gay porn stars who departed in 2020:

11) Jack Hammer XL (53) “died unexpectedly at home” on 3/1/20. He identified as queer and appeared in scenes for Kink over a 10 year period. The ex-Marine noted that the “XL” in his name stood for the roman numeral 40 – his age when he entered the industry.

12) London based fetish performer Kan Rojas only appeared in a handful of studio films for Eurocreme and HungBritLads but was quite active with online content. He died suddenly on 3/18/20.

13 & 14) Corbin Fisher lost two models in 2020: Christian was 19 when he made his first appearance for the company in 2014 and was only 24 years old when he overdosed on June 18th. German-born Jayden reportedly took his own life on September 6th. He appeared in scenes for the company in 2016-2017.

15) French porn star Christopher Smeyt (aka Christopher Smeet, Christopher Smeyth) was active in straight films for European companies from 2008-2015. He did appear in two gay scenes of Lucas Entertainment’s 2009 release Paris Playboys. He was 33 years old when he passed away on 7/31/2020.

16) Colt model Tim Kelly was 58 years old when he died on August 5, 2020. Besides Colt Studios, the troubled versatile daddy had also worked for MenAtPlay, MenOver30, HotOlderMale and Butch Dixon.

17) Nikk (Nick) Toretto, (aka Manny Vegas, Rokk/Roxx, Tyler, Italian Stallion) died on 9/8/2020 although it was not noted in the gay press until April of 2021. The 37 year-old was born in Italy but raised in South Dakota. He appeared in films from 2001-2012 for multiple studios, including Jake Cruise, Next Door, Bait Bus, and Dirty Tony.

18) Tony Axel (aka Alexandre, Tony Lemalice) was 42 years old when he passed away on 11/12 2020. Originally from Annecy, France, he had been active in gay porn since 2011, working with Kristian Bjorn, HardBritLads, Jalif, Tim Kruger, Citebeur, and Cazzo Studios, among others.

https://www.instagram.com/tonyaxel78/

19) Robert Harris, aka Randy Paul entered the porn industry in 1986. The bisexual performer from Bay Shore, NY appeared in approximately 200 gay, bi and straight titles over a 20 year period. The Rialto Report interviewed him about his lengthy career just months before his death at age 59 on 11/1/20.

See Also:
Gay Porn Stars We Lost In 2021
Gay Porn Stars We Lost In 2022
Costello Presley and 80’s Gay Porn Guilty Pleasures
Remembering prolific pornographer Robert Prion