03/31/2006
Josh Weast and Andrew Bryant
Queerclick (NSFW) has tracked down the goods on Josh Weast, the high school gymnastics coach who was banned from campus Mater Dei High School in Breese, Illinois after school officials discovered he had acted in gay porn. Well, they were right.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 12:13 PM EST by Andy in Film & TV | Permalink
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Damn- I'd hit it!
Posted by: Damien Tilden | Mar 31, 2006 12:18:34 PM
The advent of the internet as an ideal tool to deliver porn coupled with the lack of decent jobs in this country guarantee this sort of thing is going to become increasingly frequent. Haven't you ever wondered how people do web porn and think their friends and family aren't going to get wind of it eventually?
Posted by: chicagochristianleft | Mar 31, 2006 12:22:01 PM
Mother of God!Can this be the end of Josh? I think not.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 31, 2006 12:44:02 PM
Well, how lovely! Shame on them for sacking him. They try and make it so sinister that he was teaching gymnastics to kids - the nasty pervert!
Posted by: Peter Rivendell | Mar 31, 2006 1:00:02 PM
Let's face it, none of us will ever be able to run for president. God knows we all have something like this hidden away. Even if we think it's perfectly innocent, someone else will think it's the height of perversion.
Posted by: MT | Mar 31, 2006 1:04:52 PM
That just totally sucks for him. Fuck I look forward to the day when people can realize that is not their business and it does not effect shit.
Posted by: StarrFucker | Mar 31, 2006 1:26:57 PM
I have wondered if the school would have had an issue had Josh been a woman who had performed in porn flicks.
"War on Christians", my ass. It's really more like a war on gays. Anything that is remotely associated with homosexuality brings a hysterical reaction from the wingnut, wacko rapture right.
Maybe before long these hypersensitive, faith-based bigots will so isolate themselves from mainstream society that they aren't a problem anymore. One can hope, anyway.
Posted by: Jonathon | Mar 31, 2006 1:41:37 PM
I really hate that this has happened to such a great looking guy who is using his natural talents to improve the youth of this country. I know many school teachers and gym coaches who have supplemented their incomes by working in the industry. A lot of them believe that their chances of getting caught doing gay porn is very low. Unfortunately, this is not always the way things turn out.
Posted by: Johnny Lane | Mar 31, 2006 1:46:37 PM
Way back in the early 90's, the New Yorker profiled the many thousands of middle-class, well-educated, 'normal' guys who were flocking to LA to work in porn because they could not get anything in their field.
So today's employer better scan a lot of fuck movies. Or just accept that the work has become a kind of fast-food, ritual job.
Posted by: Jacko | Mar 31, 2006 2:24:07 PM
I don't think it is common for people to turn to the porn industry because they can't find a decent job. He probably did it simply because he wanted to...and that's totally his own business.
Posted by: Patrick | Mar 31, 2006 2:28:08 PM
It is a war on gays and sex. However, you can grow up to be president if you have snorted coke, drink and drive, and failed to show up for all your military duty. You just need a rich and powerful daddy!
Posted by: another gay dad | Mar 31, 2006 2:58:01 PM
I think it is his own business, however he must have known that teaching at a private, Catholic high school while having done gay porn for the biggest name in the industry would present an unavoidable conflict. He was foolish to not have considered this beforehand. I am not condoning the actions of the school. However, they are within their rights on this one.
Posted by: busytimmy | Mar 31, 2006 3:03:33 PM
I think we're all sick of hearing about teachers, male and female, having sex with students. Not to mention the fact that the Catholic church is already under fire for not doing enough to protect kids from pedophile priests.
I don't think a porn actor, male or female, has any business being in a school. There's nothing wrong with porn, but porn stars and kids are probably not the smartest combination.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Mar 31, 2006 3:10:32 PM
I'm wondering how they found out that he did porn. Did one of the priests recognize him?
Posted by: Seattle | Mar 31, 2006 3:39:51 PM
Some of the students found out. He was apparently "shocked" that this happened. Cute guy, but maybe not the brightest bulb in the box.
Posted by: busytimmy | Mar 31, 2006 3:50:04 PM
"However, they are within their rights on this one." --busytimmy
"I think we're all sick of hearing about teachers, male and female, having sex with students." --Jay Croce
What rights timmy? He didn't break any laws and Jay it hasn't been reported that he had sex with any students.
Posted by: Rich | Mar 31, 2006 3:55:15 PM
According to the article: "In a comment on the case, the executive director of a well-known Illinois gay rights groups said private religious schools have a legal right to enforce their own values as long as federal anti-discrimination laws are not violated." I'm not saying he broke laws, obviously he did not, but that he should have been mindful of the conflict between both of his employment situations.
Posted by: busytimmy | Mar 31, 2006 4:02:10 PM
>> it hasn't been reported that he had sex with any students.
Nobody said that he did. I said, "There's nothing wrong with porn, but porn stars and kids are probably not the smartest combination."
And I stand by that statement.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Mar 31, 2006 4:16:17 PM
Now Jay, I do agree with your statement that porn stars & kids probably don't mix well. However, right before you said that, you did indeed say - and I'll copy & paste is so as not to make any errors while quoting:
"I think we're all sick of hearing about teachers, male and female, having sex with students. Not to mention the fact that the Catholic church is already under fire for not doing enough to protect kids from pedophile priests."
You're also correct in saying that you did not say that he had sex with his students. So, then why make the comment at all? Just to stir up something so the flamers decend and this becomes some huge off-topic conflagration? ----------Oh wait, let me just start my post over again----------:
I think we're all sick and tired of hearing about Nicole Richie. I agree with Jay though--I don't really think porn stars and high school students are a very good combination.
Posted by: basis4insanity | Mar 31, 2006 4:36:47 PM
Oh I don't know, Jay. As long as there have been schools and teachers to staff them, there have been teachers who were total sluts. I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that if you're slutty with random adults in the community it's okay to teach, but if you've done it on film once or twice in your green youth that you're barred from teaching forever. As long as he's never had sexual relations with someone under the legal age of consent, then in a perfect world there shouldn't be a problem. But since we don't live in a perfect world, it was somewhat stupid of him. He has to know that a Catholic school in a rural or suburban area would not take too kindly to one of their teachers taking it up the butt on film. And I don't buy the whole thing about how he "just needed the money". Girl, please. Lots of attractive young guys end up getting JOBS rather than going into porn, likely because they have goals that are incompatible with having your naked 20 year old butt showing up on a DVD case 5 years later. I think that the thing that should preclude him from teaching is not the fact that he was in a porno flick, but the fact that he lacked/lacks the good sense and foresight to know that it would be a problem down the road.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 31, 2006 4:39:47 PM
"I really hate that this has happened to such a great looking guy.."
--If he weren't good looking, would his firing be okay with you?! Come on! Talk about shallow. Why should his being pretty make his suffering more tragic than that of the less beautifuls' of the world? Someone lucks out in the genetic roulette for beauty and that means his life is more valuable than others'? Gee people said Ted Bundy was a good looking guy but he turned out to be a serial killer..
Weast would have been fired had he been in straight porn just as a few years ago a woman was fired from teaching because her school found out she had been in porn. Like it or not, people don't want their kids being taught by porn performers.
People don't want their kids to think that porn is the best solution for them if they get in a financial fix any more than they want their kids to turn to prostitution or drugs. Maybe if his porn past was ten or fifteen years in the past people might have been more understanding but that wasn't the case.
I'm not saying that there isn't hypocrisy here. Porn is a multi-billion dollar business that puts money in the pockets of hotel chains and the telecommunications industry in addition to the porn producers and performers. Gay or straight Middle-America are the biggest consumers of porn. But no one wants his or her kid to grow up to be a porn star. How many tragic stories have we all heard about the lives of porn "stars" that end tragically (Joey Stefano or Dorothy Stratton). What's the shelf life of a porn "star"? How many performers have revealed that they were raped as children? Blah, blah, blah...
I feel sorry that Mr. Weast lost his job; but he had to know that performing in porn would always leave him with a stigma. He was teaching at a private Catholic school that has a set of morals it wants to teach its students. Realistically, why are people shocked when someone who performs in porn runs into career problems in education or corporate America. Bill Clinton was persecuted because he got a blow job!
Posted by: noah | Mar 31, 2006 5:03:07 PM
>>Bill Clinton was persecuted because he got a blow job!
Not that your comment has much to do with this thread, but I really think Clinton was under fire because he:
1) cheated on his wife.
2) did something we don't expect the President of the United States to do.
3) lied about it.
All much less shocking than appearing in a porn movie, unless you happen to be the president, or maybe a school teacher.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Mar 31, 2006 5:28:17 PM
Jay,
Yes, Clinton cheated on his and lied about it. Wow, like no other man has ever done that? Clinton was a nun compared to JFK. Presidents, prime ministers, kings, and queens have been cheating on their spouses for a long time as have teachers. Clinton got the special treatment for it: impeachment.
Posted by: noah | Mar 31, 2006 6:44:18 PM
What's wrong with doing of-age, consensual porn in the first place? Isn't that guaranteed by the 1st Amendment?
Posted by: jude | Apr 1, 2006 2:11:39 AM
Guarenteed by the 1st Amendment??? Jude, what Constitution have you been reading? The Constitution of the U.S. does not grant the right to do porn movies and work at a private Catholic school. I think what you really must be saying is that a private Catholic school should be forced to employ a porno star... which is completely ridiculous. Josh Weast (or whatever his real name is) was a fool for thinking that his porn work wouldn't cost him his job.
And, not that this has anything to do with it, but please... the guy is NOT hot.
Posted by: Robert | Apr 1, 2006 12:57:56 PM