NEW YORK CITY, NY — A self-described “model and dancer” can sue a Manhattan-based magazine for referring to him as a porn star.Manuel Saez is suing gay HX magazine for $1.25 million dollars after the publication ran a shirtless and sexy but unauthorized picture of him to promote his supposed appearance at a Chelsea nightclub. In order to do so, it identified him as “Big City Video porn star Alex.”
“He’ll definitely get your sprinklers working,” read the 2006 listing, which was headlined “Five-Alarm Fierce.”
Saez said he endured “emotional and mental suffering and distress, and sleeplessness and aggravation” following the listing and that he lost his day job in a clothing store as a direct result.
In her ruling allowing the suit to go forward, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Emily Goodman noted that the photo the club provided of Saez shows him bare-chested and in open jeans, but that the magazine “does admit that no investigation was done” to determine if he was, in fact, a true porn star.
Her ruling means that HX will try to get the claims tossed at a later date. HX claimed that the information about Saez being a porn star came from Splash, a “historically reliable” club and told the NY Post that they believe that the magazine will ultimately be found to have reported “responsibly.”
As long as “responsibly” means that nightclubs can claim that anyone in a provocative photo is a porn star…
