Brent Corrigan

Sean Paul Lockhart (born October 31, 1986) is a model, actor and gay pornographic actor best known under his stage name Brent Corrigan^{[1][3][4][5][6]} or his pseudonym Fox Ryder.^[1][3] He is best known for his roles in Schoolboy Crush with Brent Everett and Velvet Mafia with Erik Rhodes. He has won six GayVN Awards including the "Best Bottom" award two consecutive years.

Corrigan started his career in pornography in 2004 at Cobra Video, as a young twink model in Every Poolboy's Dream. He quickly became one of Cobra's most famous performers, where his bare-back-themed movies were critically top rated and commercially top-selling.^[7] Corrigan's performing career has featured a diverse variety of sexual activity, including semen swallowing, rimming and Cobra Video's first double anal penetration ever by Chase McKenzie and Brent Everett.^[8]

In September 2005, Corrigan made the claim that he falsified his identification documents to make his first films, being under-age when these were filmed. This public statement resulted in much controversy, causing many of his films to be (voluntarily) pulled from distribution channels while concerns of paedopornography^[9] in many legal jurisdictions in the United States and abroad are settled. The statement has been a major part of a continuing legal dispute between Corrigan and Cobra Video, and of much debate among fans.

Both Corrigan and Cobra Video have created separate "official" websites promoting the performer.

Corrigan heads up his own production company and enjoys writing in his spare time.

Early life

Corrigan was born in Lewiston, Idaho,^[10] raised in Seattle by his stepfather and moved to San Diego in 2003 to live with his mother.^[11]

When I moved originally, my biggest excuse was I had serious interest in film. I wanted to direct and I had a lot of interest in the artistic side of it. I figured if I'm going to do it anywhere, southern California is the fucking place to do it. That was my big lure so I thought I'd come here, do my two years in high school, get residency established then go to UCLA or something of that degree.^[12]

After arriving in San Diego, he further states that he was abandoned by his mother, forcing him to take care of himself.^[11]

At sixteen years, he says he met and began courting an older man who introduced him to what he referred to as an unhealthy social scene.

[My boyfriend] introduced me to a lifestyle that wasn’t very fitting of a sixteen-year-old. He was nothing but the worst influence on me. But I thought this is what gay people did. I didn’t know that most of the gay community isn’t into drugs and being evil to each other; that there is a side of the gay community that actually takes care of each other.^[11]

He further claims he never met his father.^[12]

Alleged underage videos

Corrigan claims that shortly before his 17th birthday his older boyfriend (mentioned above)^[11] contacted a Cobra Video producer and showed a nude, sleeping Corrigan to Cobra Video by webcam. Corrigan then states that he agreed to get a fake ID in order to do video work for Cobra.^[13]

He stated in an interview that, at 16 years, he believed he "knew everything."^[11] He also believed his boyfriend's statements that fake identification was used "all the time" by underage performers and that he wasn't doing anything wrong.^[10][11]

Corrigan then went on to do two shoots with Cobra in 2004.^[10] The majority of these scenes were receptive, bareback, anal sex, with the exception of those starring both Corrigan and Brent Everett, where a condom was used for Corrigan's bottoming scenes. The scenes from these shoots were spread over four videos.^[10] Those videos were both critically and commercially a success, being consistently well reviewed as well as top sellers for Cobra video.^[7][10]

During the time these scenes were filmed, Corrigan stated that he developed a close relationship with Cobra Video owner Bryan Kocis and that the relationship eventually became sexual. Corrigan stated that he was afraid the business relationship would end unless he maintained the sexual part of the relationship.^[11]

Disclosure and its effects

Corrigan's statement

Corrigan's attorney announced publicly in 2005 that Corrigan was under-age when he filmed several scenes for Cobra Video.^[14] In a subsequent November 2005 AVN.com article, Corrigan stated that he had obtained a false ID to enter the porn industry and that he was seventeen years old when he filmed his early scenes.^[13]

In a July/August 2006 GayWebMonkey magazine interview, Corrigan stated that on several occasions he tried to explicitly state to this producer that he was under-age, but the producer was not interested in hearing the information or in having the information publicly disclosed. Corrigan states that "[The Cobra producer] hinted very strongly that if I was underage now or when filming the videos, I’d be the one in trouble, not him."^[11] Corrigan also stated that this Cobra video producer emailed him after the public disclosures to say that "traitors would be dealt with accordingly" and to expect lawsuits, embarrassment, and financial ruin.^[11]

Industry response

A September 2005 press release from two private, nongovernmental organization, the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (A.S.A.C.P.) and the Free Speech Coalition (FSC)^[15] repeated Corrigan's statements. In the press releases, both organizations said that until the matter could be definitively settled, these videos should be removed from circulation due to the possibility of these videos being considered paedopornography in many jurisdictions.

On September 13, 2005, the four Cobra Video titles featuring these disputed scenes were pulled voluntarily from circulation by Cobra Video, through their distributor, Pacific Sun Entertainment.^[16] Though no prosecution or criminal charges have been filed regarding the alleged under-age scenes, copies of these disputed titles are no longer (as of 2007) available through official channels.

Cobra Video response

An Adult Video News article quotes Cobra Video as stating that it was not aware of Corrigan's underage status and that it had been provided "color copies of the three State-issued forms of identification (that) Mr. Lockhart presented, including a birth certificate, all indicating a birth year of 1985." The article further quotes Cobra as stating that "all requests for a State-certified birth certificate of Mr. Lockhart from Mr. Lockhart's attorney have been rejected."^[13]

Lawsuits

After the announcement and the subsequent recall of the titles in question, Corrigan and his business partners were then sued in federal court in San Diego, California, by Cobra Video, L.L.C. for trademark violations, cybersquatting, breach of contract, and other disputes. The suit, which sought damages of $1 million, also sought to prevent him from using the stage name of "Brent Corrigan" because of a claim that the name was/is a protected trademark.^[13] Kocis and Corrigan were reported to have reached a settlement on their legal dispute, with documentation to have been mailed on January 25, 2007.^[17] A final hearing in the matter was scheduled for February 21, 2007.^[18]

Kocis death

Bryan Kocis, owner of Cobra Video for whom Corrigan worked while underage, was found dead at his home January 24, 2007. His throat had been slashed and he had been stabbed 28 times. The killers set his home on fire to hide the murder. Corrigan was one of several people to be questioned. His attorney, John Yates, said that Corrigan was part of the investigation and "fully" cooperating with authorities.^[19] Yates later said Corrigan had information about a man who met with Kocis that day, but they are looking for the services of a criminal lawyer before talking to police.^[20] Police then searched for a "person of interest" named in the investigation.^[21] On May 15, 2007; two Virginia Beach escorts and rival producers of gay pornography, Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, were charged with Kocis' murder.^[22] The theory by investigators was that the two men murdered Kocis because they wanted to get Corrigan to work for them at their porn film company. However, police investigating the murder believe Corrigan didn't know these two men would actually go and kill Kocis to get him to work for their company.^[23][24]

On December 8, 2008, Kerekes pleaded guilty to the murder of Bryan Kocis and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole, avoiding a potential death sentence.^[25]

Jury selection for Cuadra's trial began February 17, 2009, and the trial began February 24. On February 27, Sean Lockhart testified for the prosecution.^[26]

On March 12, 2009, Harlow Cuadra was found guilty and convicted of first degree murder in Kocis' death.^[27] On March 16, 2009, Cuadra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.^[28] On April 7, 2009, Cuadra appealed his life sentence.^[29]

Current status

Adult web-sites

Corrigan's most recent official website is thenewBrentCorrigan.com. As he stated in his official Twitter account on November 7–8, 2009:

I'm not a part of Brent Corrigan Inc any longer. I'm doing my own thing now...Yes, [this is the] third website I've been a part of developing. The big difference is this one is ALL MINE — no business partners involved.

Corrigan maintained a blog and personal website at BrentCorriganINC.com. This web site began in July 2007. Corrigan aired the new web-site because of difficulty he was having with his old web-site.^[30]

Corrigan makes his views about his old and new web-sites known to his visitors:

"Here, you’ll get it all. Just be advised, from here on out, you have absolutely no reason to continue your regular visits to BrentCorriganOnline.com. I wash my hands of that filthy failure, and I beg the same of you. I want to prove to the thieves that BrentCorriganOnline.com is nothing without Brent Corrigan. I want to see the traffic on that website plummet to the depths of hell and never return. I can accomplish that with the help of you."^[30]

Corrigan maintained a web-log at his old web-site, BrentCorriganOnline.com. He started his own adult-video production company (which, he claims, makes him the youngest producer in the adult-video industry.) Cobra Video also created a website, Brentcorriganxxx.com, which offers free downloads of clips and pictures of Corrigan's post-2004 work.

On October 9, 2006, Corrigan's web-log announced the launch of the private, adult, pay-only section of BrentCorriganOnline.com. The entry provided a link to the pay site, discussed the delays and included a video celebrating the pay site's start. It was also revealed that his web-master, Jeremy Carrson, is his second business partner in this venture.^[31] On October 11, 2006, Corrigan also claimed that a major reason for the delay of the roll-out of the members-only site was due to his contracted online billing company at first, canceling the original billing contract under legal pressure from Cobra Video.

Films

Corrigan starred in Falcon Studios' 2006 release of The Velvet Mafia as "Fox Ryder".^[32]

Corrigan has appeared in several nonpornographic films. He has a small role as "Skippy" in the short film Tell Me, a co-starring role (as Sean Lockhart) in the rock musical short Didn't This Used to Be Fun? and a starring role as "Press" in a short film directed by Jody Wheeler entitled In the Closet. In 2009, the film appeared on a gay short film compilation Boys on Film 3: American Boy released by Peccadillo Pictures,^[33] the company that also made it possible for Corrigan to record an album with songs by the Swedish songwriter and accordionist Roland Cedermark.

He plays "Stan the Merman" in the 2008 feature Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild,^[34] and as one of the people on the telephone tree in Gus Van Sant's Milk, based on Harvey Milk. He has a co-starring role in the musical The Big Gay Musical as "Hustler" and he plays "Chad" in the 2011 feature Sister Mary. He will also be starring as "Chris Wachowsky" in the gay coming-of-age fantasy Judas Kiss.^[35] Starred as "Ricky" in Chillerama (segment "I Was A Teenage Werebear") a musical, about a "closeted kid who meets these other closeted kids, who when aroused turn into leather daddy werebears".^[36] It was directed by Tim Sullivan, due for a November 2011 release.

At the 2009 GayVN Awards in San Francisco, pornographic director Michael Lucas protested Corrigan's participation in the event. Later, he accused Corrigan's boyfriend of threats^[37] and filed a police report, but no charges were ever brought.

Filmography

Awards

See also

• List of male performers in gay porn films

References

External links

• Brent Corrigan at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Brent Corrigan on Twitter