[UPDATED] Straight Porn Star August Ames Has Died

Posted December 6, 2017 by with 142 comments

5a284219c5226-augustamesnewStraight porn star August Ames—who made news on Monday after announcing that she had pulled out of a recent shoot due to her male co-star having performed in gay porn—has died, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner. Via AVN:

Adult star August Ames passed away Tuesday, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed this morning. The cause of her death was not confirmed at post time, but Ames was 23.

“She was the kindest person I ever knew and she meant the world to me,” said her husband, director Kevin Moore. “Please leave this as a private family matter in this difficult time.”

A native of Canada, Ames is a two-time AVN Award-winner with more than 270 credits since her debut in 2013. She earned a nomination in 2015 for AVN Best New Starlet, and was a nominee every year since for Female Performer of the Year, including in the current race for the upcoming 2018 AVN Awards.

The adult industry was in shock upon hearing the news Wednesday as several industry members took to Twitter to offer condolences.

Ames, who was also the September 2016 Vixen Angel, won the fan-voted AVN Awards for Cutest Newcomer (2015) and Most Spectacular Boobs (2017).

Update:

Late Wednesday, it was confirmed that Ames took her own life, and died from “asphyxia due to hanging.” Via IBTimes:

The Ventura County Health Care Agency confirmed Grabowski’s death Wednesday evening. “Mercedes Grabowski died of asphyxia due to hanging. Manner is suicide,” the agency’s public information officer told International Business Times.

Some of Ames’ fans (as well as plenty of anonymous, anti-gay Twitter trolls) on social media are falsely accusing members of the gay community—who took issue with Ames’ tweets—of being responsible for Ames’ suicide. While some responding to Ames used extreme language that crossed the line of polite discourse (as is often the case on social media), most disagreement with Ames’ tweets was just that: Disagreement. Anyone who stands up to homophobia and reasonably questions public statements that spread misinformation is not doing anything wrong, and can’t logically be held accountable for whatever the source of that misinformation chooses to do later, however tragic. That said, Ames’ death is in fact tragic, and Str8UpGayPorn offers its sincere condolences to her family, fans, and peers.

Hide picture