PRAGUE — Czech online adult entertainment company Netlook has released a statement in connection to the July 13 arrests of owner Martin Stiborek and several employees, charged with “coercing women to have sex on camera,” relating to content on one of the company's casting-couch-themed websites.
The statement, received by XBIZ this afternoon, denies the charges, alleging that “during the production and distribution of erotic material, no one from Netlook or cooperating persons has committed any illegal actions.”
“The accused people [i.e., Stiborek and the eight other Netlook staffers charged] disagree with the accusation and lodged a complaint against the resolution to initiate criminal proceedings[;] however, we fully cooperate with the investigators and voluntarily issued all requested materials and documents and subjected to all restrictions.”
Disputing the Charges
The company insists “the actresses were duly informed in advance about the nature of the material [and] its distribution[,] and a written contract was concluded and signed with them, stating that the artistic performance consists mainly of sexual, erotic or pornographic acts.”
As XBIZ reported earlier this month, local authorities had told the Prague press at the time of the arrest that “the [models] were persuaded to have sex, some were said to be afraid of the unfamiliar environment and coercion, and asked to leave. According to the testimony, the cameraman also forced others physically.”
The Netlook statement stresses that “each actress received an agreed financial reward for taking photos and filming,” “most of the actresses were interested in shooting more materials and participating in other erotic projects,” “everything took [place in] a professional studio” and that there were pre-scene filmed interviews with the models.
The company also claims that “the actresses had their personal belongings at their disposal, including mobile phones” and they “could call anyone at any time, tell anyone from the production [about] her disagreement, or end the photo shoot or filming immediately.”
The company contends that they have video instances of actresses stopping the shoot and being free to leave at any time, but that none of the models accusing the company before Czech authorities “disagreed” at the time of shooting.
Conjectures
Netlook calls its productions “fully professional, complying with all applicable laws and complying with all international standards for the production of erotic material.” The company also points out that “casting couch”-type videos “are only a small part of Netlook’s productions,” and that the scope of the business also includes activities outside of adult entertainment.
“As part of the Czech casting project, almost 2,000 videos were shot without any problem,” the statement reads, “so it makes no sense to jeopardize the entire work of Netlook and the company's name internationally by forcing a few actresses to participate in the production involuntarily. It should also be emphasized that the demand for the position of actresses was high and the interest significantly exceeded the production capacity.”
The statement concludes with the company’s conjectures about what they call “the real motivation” for the models to come forward, and citing a previous instance of police oversight over their operation.
“Several actresses have approached the police in the past,” Netlook explained, “who have repeatedly inspected the process of producing erotic material, but nothing illegal has ever been found. In one such case, the case ended up in court, where in the first instance there was a final immunity from criminal liability in full, because the court did not find anything illegal about the method of the production of erotic material.”
