WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Last night hundreds of gay porn performers, directors, bloggers and fans gathered inside West Hollywood’s Penthouse Nightclub to celebrate the 16th annual Cybersocket Web Awards.
Presented by Flirt4Free, this year’s award ceremony featured go-go boys to techno remixes to shirtless bartenders to underwear clad models in a glass shower washing themselves for the voyeuristic pleasure of all those who came out to the show.
Click here to see Cybersocket Web Awards winners.
This year’s Cybersockets were hosted by iconic gay porn director and legendary drag queen ChiChi LaRue who, as CockyBoy’s Jake Jaxson pointed out when he won Business Person of the Year, has been in the industry for 30 years and who gave a very poignant speech about how, not too long ago, gay pornographers could have gone to jail for celebrating homosexuality.
Jaxson thanked LaRue for being in the business so long and during a time when she could have gone to jail for her heart.
Jaxson, who said he was very surprised he won, then went on to say that modern-day pornographers should be celebrating the people who came before the current batch because porn, especially gay porn, has become more mainstream and less taboo.
When asked how she felt about hosting the awards this year LaRue said: “It was a blast. It’s one of those things like riding a bike when you haven’t done it for a while you find you still can.”
LaRue, who seemed genuinely flattered and touched by Jaxson’s earlier speech and who spent the night making friendly jabs at the porn performers, especially the young Helix boys, went on to say, “I’m also glad everyone can take my insults with a grain of salt.”
Also on hand to help make sure this year’s Cybersockets was one of the best there was DJ Pornstar, who provided the Penthouse with tunes that had many dancing and grinding against each other throughout the night.
Promoter and event host Scotty B. was also at the show last night conducting interviews on the red carpet before the awards got underway.
Unlike other porn awards, the Cybersockets are free and open to the general public — so attendees get a blend of industry professionals, super fans, casual fans and those who are just there to see exactly what happens at a gay porn award show.
One fan, Jesse, who first came to the Cybersockets last year, told XBIZ he plans to make attendance at the Cybersockets a regular thing. His female friend, Arely, called the show “poppin.'”
And it’s not just the fans who had a great time either. Even porn performers who weren’t nominated were having a blast.
Performer Killian James told XBIZ: “I’m having a great time. I’ve grabbed so many dicks of anonymous people!”
NakedSword director mr. Pam told XBIZ, “I can’t believe it’s been 16 years. This is like a big family reunion.”
West Hollywood socialite and celebrity decorator Bobby Trendy also was at the event and told XBIZ that he likes the awards “because it brings everyone in this community together.”
And besides the togetherness, the awards program also gives creative people the chance to talk what they are working on or hoping to work on, including mr. Pam, who said: “We’re developing some new stuff this year.”
Porn star and Andrew Christian model Topher DiMaggio was overheard telling several people that he was also excited to do some new projects this year. With numerous rumors floating around of DiMaggio’s retirement this statement appears as a welcome relief to all of his fans.
Among some of the stand out winners this year was performer and owner of Ducati Models, Trenton Ducati, whose Cybersocket Hall of Fame of Excellence Award was met with a thunderous applause.
It’s safe to say the response to Ducati’s win was the loudest of the night. Ducati said he was “totally honored.” “I appreciate everything,” he said.
Another win that was met with much enthusiasm was the win for Best Movie of the Year — “Meeting Liam.”
The show’s crowd started chanting, “Liam! Liam! Liam!” as star Liam Riley and performers from the CockyBoys took the stage.
Riley, a young twink performer whose feminine features and soft voice make him almost too innocent to be in gay porn, addressed his fellow performers that were in the film with him and said, “you guys are like brothers to me,” before turning his attention back to the crowd and concluding with, “you got to see our friendship grow and how we grew as performers. It’s not porn. It’s CockyBoys!”
So what did Morgan Sommer, founder of the Cybersockets, think of this year’s ceremony?
“It went great. Better than last year,” Sommer told XBIZ as the crowd started to thin out of the Penthouse. “All because of ChiChi LaRue.”
And were there any wins that surprised him?
“Icon Male was the big standout winning Best New Site,” he said. “It is a new site, but the fans love their content. People didn’t see that coming. Also CCBill winning Best Webmaster Resource. This was the first time they were nominated and they won by a 2-to-1 margin.”
