OAKLAND, Calif. — Producer and promoter Joe Hawkins has announced that next spring’s edition of Blatino Oasis and its marquee event, the Blatino Erotica Awards, will be its last.
Blatino Oasis, founded in 2007, is a weekend-long getaway for gay and bi men of color, comprising a wide variety of nightclub events, daytime parties and related celebrations, including the awards ceremony. This year’s event unspooled May 3-5 and honored performers Jacen Zhu and Max Konnor.
The Blatino Erotica Awards are “the first ceremony of its kind, and has awarded more gay and bisexual men of color in the adult film industry, over the past 13 years, than any awards ceremony on earth,” Hawkins told XBIZ last month. “From the beginning, our intention has been to recognize the often-overlooked contributions of black gay, Latino and Latinx men who either work in the gay adult entertainment industry or whose amateur work is classified as erotic or sexual in nature."
Hawkins will now shift his focus to running Oakland, California’s first LGBTQ community center, which he co-founded in 2017. He will also launch a men’s wellness retreat in Palm Springs over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, January 17-20, 2020.
“For 30 years, I have worked to create services that empower black people, LGBTQ people and low-income people in my community,” he said. “I have also created many entertainment-related events, including Blatino Oasis. Leading our new LGBTQ community center has made it very clear to me that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.”
Hawkins looks forward to the opportunity to “evolve into something new," he said. "I want to thank everyone who supported the Blatino Oasis journey and hope that you will join us for our finale May 1-3, 2020."
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