BURBANK, Calif. —— Grooby Productions announced that the TS adult industry event, the Tranny Awards, will be rebranded as the Transgender Erotica Awards (The TEAs).
“We started the show as an online event for a bit fun and never anticipated the interest and growth of the show to become the main annual event for trans women and men in the adult industry,” Grooby Productions owner Steven Grooby said. “When we named the show the Tranny Awards in 2007, the climate was different and the usage of the word tranny was appropriate as a catchy title in an online porn event.
"While I personally believe, within the context of porn, that tranny has its place as a descriptor in the same way many words have their place only in porn, I do understand why some people have become frustrated with its usage here."
The change in name was made in the interest of being inclusive in all areas of transgender erotica and to broaden the mainstream appeal of the show, Grooby explained.
“The acronym works especially well since T is used within the community and we're going to have some fun with the promotions. The after party, for example, will be [called] The TEA Party," Grooby added. “I'd like to thank the extended trans adult community for their input and feedback over the last few months. We will be producing a show that the whole transgender adult community can be proud of.”
When the Tranny Awards launched in 2007 as an online-only competition, there were only a handful of categories and Grooby sponsored all of the cash prizes.
As interest grew, it expanded into an actual live event, hosted at a several different nightlife venues in the L.A. area, before moving to a full-scale theater in Glendale. The event now feature more than 20 categories, including special awards sponsored by other industry companies, many of which include donated cash prizes.
Last year the event expanded its categories to include Best FTM Performer, with support from sponsors like Buck Angel and James Darling. This year also marked the premiere inclusion of the Voluptuous Diva category, awarded to the best BBW TS performer of the year.
This year’s event, hosted last month at the Beyond the Stars Palace in Glendale, also saw a 25 percent jump in attendance from last year, with nearly a 300 percent increase in livestream viewership, Grooby told XBIZ.
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