A weekend post on GoFuckYourself.com said that an evening news report had cast the event in a poor light. The headline of the post read, “Attendees compared to drug dealers and child pornographers,” and the body of the post cited local news reports calling on police to investigate those in attendance.
SnowGathering event manager Cristina Ponga responded by apologizing to the adult entertainment industry for the inconvenience the commotion has caused.
Ponga’s statement follows:
“We never expected this extensive media coverage and the subsequent discussions our visit has generated. In order to try to clarify our visit and show our good intentions, we have been talking to the Icelandic authorities and the police department assured us that as long as we obey the Icelandic legislation, we will not encounter any problems.
“Producing and or distributing pornography is illegal, so it is obvious we will obey these rules. The police department also confirmed that the commotion and protests being generated have been caused by a small group of feminists and that the majority of Icelanders do not have any inconvenience or problems with our event.
“The SnowGathering got extensive media attention due to the protest of several feminist parties who do not only oppose to the SnowGathering, but oppose pornography in general. We do not fully understand, but accept that there are people that even in 2007 are offended by pornography and we totally respect this point of view.
“The only thing we will not accept or tolerate is to be linked to child pornography, human trafficking, rape or prostitution. We — and we suppose everybody who will be attending the SnowGathering — are 100 percent against this kind of behavior and do not condone it in any way.
“We would like to point out that this attack has not been aimed to the SnowGathering as an isolated target. The discussions and criticism FreeOnes.com encountered as the organizers of this event, has basically been an attack to everybody who is trying to conduct a decent, legitimate business in the adult entertainment business.
“We are very grateful that the majority of you understood this and we would like to thank everybody for their continuous support, understanding and their interest shown in resolving this matter.”
The SnowGathering will continue as planned for March 7-11.
Ponga said those with questions should contact her via ICQ at 433-161-595, or through email at Cristina@FreeOnes.com.
For more information, visit SnowGathering.com.
