LOS ANGELES — Gawker.com, the New York-based media news and gossip site, has profiled veteran adult industry blogger Mike South, referring to him as "The King of Porn Gossip."
Gawker writer Adrian Chen characterized South as a highly controversial figure who regularly breaks porn news and holds adult industry power players accountable in his own unconventional way on MikeSouth.com.
"A large part of what makes South such a phenomenon is his fearless — some would say reckless — railing against the entrenched institutions and figureheads of the adult industry," Chen writes. "The porn industry sometimes seems to combine the oversized egos of Hollywood with the inscrutable power structures of organized crime. Mike South Hulk-smashes through it all with an anarchic distrust of all concentrated power and a Wikileaks-style taste for radical transparency. He's a self-styled defender of porn's powerless and self-described 'gun-totin' Libertarian."
The 54-year-old South, who is also a veteran porn producer who currently resides in Atlanta, tells Chen that he loves the adult industry and embraces his role as a voice for adult performers.
"When somebody mistreats the talent, or somebody does something scummy, that's a story and that's why a lot of people within the industry turn to my blog because it is a mirror on them," South says in the story.
South continues, "I identify with the performers more than the company owners, and the producers and directors and I tend to stick up for the little guy, and I see the little guys as the performers. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll be the first to tell you that half the problems in this business come from performers acting like they're retarded, but still, they're my people."
In the article, South is credited with "spearheading" the removal of the rogue PornWikiLeaks site in 2011, as well as being a go-to source for developments during the adult industry's syphilis outbreak in August.
South told XBIZ Friday that his site is being "slammed" with traffic as a result of the Gawker article, which was the site's lead story today.
"Adrian spent a lot of time on this, he’d been talking to me for well over a month to put that together," South said. "The article reads more like a piece from Rolling Stone than what you get on Gawker.com, so I’m blown away by it. I think it’s a great read."
South added, "It's really fascinating to me to see myself through someone else’s eyes, so I never fault anybody for calling it the way they see it. I also want to thank [XBIZ founder and president] Alec Helmy for throwing some nice words in there. That was kind of a surprise. What can I say but thanks."
To read the full Gawker.com piece, click here.
