First, it was new jobs. Then we were denied our “Jungleland” singalongs. Now the backlash to HB 2 threatens to interfere with our ability to masturbate using the Internet. Is nothing sacred?
Today, the guy who runs porn site XHamster.com announced that the company would be blacking out access for users with North Carolina IP addresses until the discriminatory law is repealed. Here’s the official statement:
“We are appalled by the recent events that have transpired in North Carolina. We have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality for everyone and these laws are discriminatory which XHamster.com does not tolerate. As of today, access to XHamster.com is blacked out in the state of North Carolina until further notice. Judging by the stats of what you North Carolinians watch, we feel this punishment is a severe one. We will not standby and pump revenue into a system that promotes this type of garbage. We respect all sexualities and embrace them.”
“I think porn has the power to do what Bruce Springsteen can’t,” the statement continued.
If you go to XHamster.com from a North Carolina IP address, you’re met with the above pop-up message showing statistics about how much gay and transgender pornography Tar Heel State denizens are viewing.
A few notes about this move:
1.) It is not a blackout. All you have to do is click to the side of the prompt about what hypocrites we all are and you are free to watch “Amateur MILF Mixtape #2” and thousands of other mostly disgusting videos as you please.
2.) It is an especially obvious publicity stunt.
3.) It will have no effect whatsoever on the status of HB 2.
4. It is getting to the point where it is hard to know how we—that is to say, those of us who oppose the backwater goblins who enacted this discriminatory law—should feel about the cascade of boycotts being visited upon our state. They make for good headlines, but they’ll need to start adding up to something more than that at some point.
