“I did it because I thought it was a good message for kids,” Jeremy told XBIZ. “We’re not looking for kids to watch porn. So, we’re trying to make this really above board and be very careful, so that kids can’t access porn. We’re not like Camel cigarettes with advertising billboards outside of schools. They have lock boxes in hotels and people’s homes, so that kids can’t see porn.”
In the commercial, Jeremy speaks to Pete the Porn Puppet, emphasizing that sexually explicit material is for adults, not for children. The puppet was invented by XXX Church to send a message to children warning them about pornography.
It’s not the first time that Gross and XXX Church have produced an antiporn commercial with the help of an industry member. In 2003, Pete was featured alongside adult producer James “Jimmy D” DeGorgio, delivering an antiporn message for children.
XXX Church is an online nonprofit, nondenominational organization that crusades against porn addiction. Gross, who calls himself the “porn pastor,” has been criticized for his methods of outreach to the porn addicts that the church claims to minister to. He and his crew often appear at adult industry consumer shows to hand out Bibles.
Gross and Jeremy also have been featured in several live debates given at colleges and various locations nationwide. Jeremy has appeared in other comedy-oriented videos for the nonprofit organization.
“We did a really funny video , if you go on their site or on YouTube, we did a wrestling thing with me and the pastor of XXX Church,” Jeremy said. “We squared off and flipped each other down on the ground, and it was at a real wrestling event down in Atlanta.”
Currently, Jeremy and Gross are debating during a bus tour that will visit several universities, beginning Aug. 5.
“I’ve been debating for the last couple of years; debating Susan Cole, the Bravehearts Organization and Michael Leahey,” Jeremy said. “And I’ve been debating the XXX Church and Craig Gross. I’m friends with all these people and they say so on all their websites; they say that they like Ron Jeremy just not the business I come from. So it makes for a very good debate.”
For debate appearances, more information can be found at Ron Jeremy’s MySpace page.
