Colton Haynes, Porn and MTVʼs TEEN WOLF

I got an interesting letter in the email yesterday from someone who claims to be a Bryan J. Freedman, an attorney who says he represents upcoming actor Colton Haynes, late of THE GATES TV series and currently of MTVʼs new TEEN WOLF scripted, which debuts this weekend. What was interesting — and concerning — was that the letter said that doorQ.com had posted private, pornographic pictures of Mr. Haynes!

The letter said:
I am contacting you regarding [doorQ.com's]...postings of multiple private, obscene, lewd and pornographic photographs of my client, privately taken...depicting my client... partially or possibly completely nude, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, in most instances with other individuals.

Ack, right? The letter went on to say that:

...the photographs depict my client partially or possibly fully nude in a Jacuzzi engaging in sexual content with another individual. the Siteʼs publication of what are clearly private photographs depicting sexual conduct, violate Haynesʼ right to privacy.... Your public disclosure of these private photographs violate Hayneʼs privacy rights as such conduct qualifies as a (1) public disclosure (2) of a private fact (3) which would be of offensive and objectionable to the reasonable person. While we can only speculate as to where you received these private photographs from, rest assured that you posted them without Haynesʼ consent or knowledge...

Color me astonished that Iʼd grabbed private pictures of Colton Haynes engaging in sexual conduct with another guy from an Internet / Google link! I didnʼt know that any private pics of Mr. Haynes engaging in sex with another guy were out there on the web! And, while Iʼm sure that someone who had private, pornographic pics of Colton Haynes with another guy might have run over to TMZ or The Smoking Gun to sell such private pictures of Mr. Haynes having sex with another guy to them, I wouldnʼt. I took them down! We donʼt do porn here at doorQ.com.

What really puzzled me was that I could have sworn Iʼd seen photos similar to the ones that attorney Bryan J. Freedman said were private pictures of Colton Haynes having sex with another guy, but that these ones were published many years ago, as a non-pornographic, photo-essay in the (now-defunct-but-then) popular and very public, nationwide magazine for gay youth, XY Magazine. Iʼd need to find back issues,though, to clear that nagging feeling up...

And wouldnʼt you know it, I did.

In March of 2006, XY Magazine published a photo essay titled “Dont Mess With Texas” in the “Shocking” issue. Some of the pages of that issue are reproduced below. Itʼs not the full magazine, but under First Amendment protections of Fair Use, it is enough to see that the physical magazine existed, what kinds of articles it ran (news! editorials! lifestyle pieces! photo-essays!) and that it did have the photos — and cover! — that I remembered.

The multi-part essay depicted a young Mr. Haynes... well, a “Colton” according the mag... in non-pornographic, fun and, perhaps, even cheeky exploration of the idea of being “Shocking.” But thatʼs about it. XY wasnʼt a porn magazine, after all. Nationally distributed, sure. Well known? Of course! But porno?

Please.

As you can see, these pictures, while showing Mr. Haynes goofing off – even kissing – another guy, are no more risque than your average Abercrombie & Fitch advert, network TV commercial or MTV series....except, well, that theyʼre gay.

Come to think of it, they arenʼt any more risque than scenes from the feature film I just produced, JUDAS KISS, staring Charlie David, Sean Paul Lockhart/Brent Corrigan, Timo Descamps and Richard Harmon, playing in film-festivals near you this summer and out on DVD and VOD this fall! (DVD Pre-orders now available through this Wolf Video link!)

But I digress.

Attorney or not, Iʼm glad the guy who wrote the letter under the name of Mr. Freedman was
looking out for Colton Haynes, making sure that private, pornographic pictures of Mr. Haynes
would disappear from the web. Thatʼs a valiant service. Iʼm sure MTV is also glad that this
person was heading off bad publicityfor one of their new shows and not creating it. Well, thatʼs
assuming that a)the letter writer is an attorney and b)they spoke to the Viacom legal department. I can also imagine that non-pornographic and quite legal pics of Mr. Haynes are something everyone, attorney or not, can support, as they raise the young actorʼs profile and endear him to a great many fans.

As to if the pic that I removed from doorQ.com actually is a private, pornographic picture of Mr. Haynes bares any similarity to the perfectly legal, perfectly public, nationally and internationally distributed pics from the 2006 issue of XY Magazine, samples of which are embedded above, thatʼs up to a reader to decide. I took down what someone purporting to be Mr. Freedman said was such and image and have replaced them with perfectly legal ones.

One more interesting thing. The letter that I received from someone purporting to be Mr. Freedman and which concerned the matter of private, pornographic pictures of Colton Haynes (since removed from doorQ.com), contained this strange paragraph which said, in part:

This letter is a confidential legal communication and is not for publication. Any publication, dissemination or broadcast of any portion of this letter will constitute a breach of such confidence and violation of the Copyright Act, and you are not authorized to publish this letter in whole or in part.

Really odd statement, no? Itʼs why I keep thinking that the letter isnʼt from an attorney, as basic First Amendment protections and Fair Use precedents are pretty standard things private citizens, journalists and writers freely enjoy. Sure, from time to time we may have to remember they are there, but itʼs great to know they are there when you need them. Iʼd hate to think that bullies could get away with scaring people into submission with a few strokes of a pen.

Anyway, I guess that should bring to this matter of regarding private, pornographic pictures of Colton Haynes kissing another guy and not public, perfectly legal pictures of Colton Haynes modeling and having fun in a photo spread, to a close. Right?

Oh, and remember: Pre-order your JUDAS KISS DVD through this Wolf Video link!