OBERLIN, Ohio — Here are two things that you wouldn’t normally expect from Ron Jeremy — wearing a sports jacket (over his regular T-shirts) and addressing a group of college Republicans as part of the Ronald Regan Political Lectureship Series.
But that’s just what the everyman porn legend did this week while at Oberlin College.
Jeremy was invited to address the student body by the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians to discuss laws affecting the adult industry — particularly the mandatory condom Measure B law.
Jeremy said he was happy to have the opportunity to talk to the Republican side considering they’ve been less than supportive of porn.
The conservtive group's president Taylor Reiners told The Chronicle-Telegram, “Adult entertainment as a legitimate form of free expression is a very libertarian issue, and the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians have been interested in hosting a lecture on the topic of adult entertainment and law for quite some time.”
Jeremy told the attendees that the condom law is simply an attack on the adult film industry, pointing out that there have been very few reported cases of STDs because of adult’s stringent testing requirements. He cautioned the non-porn savvy crowd that the pressure could force porn to leave Los Angeles for other destinations like Europe where there are no condom laws.
“They’re [porn productions] just going to other locations and shooting … so they didn’t really accomplish anything but take some of the business dollars out of Los Angeles proper,” Jeremy said.
Other topics on Jeremy’s agenda included how free Internet porn is hurting the adult industry.
Jeremy lamented, “How do you compete with free? Not just us; the three biggest magazines are suffering — Hustler, Penthouse and Playboy. Playboy sold everything they have. Hefner doesn’t even own his own name. Hugh Hefner belongs to somebody else.”
Reiners described Jeremy as “a good guy,” who met with all of the students and said he hoped that they received an “appreciation for free expression."
