The video of Penrith Panthers player Kurt Capewell is circulating online, prompting his public statement. Photo / Supplied
The video of Penrith Panthers player Kurt Capewell is circulating online, prompting his public statement. Photo / Supplied
The sinister tactics used by an Australian gay porn website to take advantage of vulnerable young men have been exposed by those whose videos are circulating online forever.
Penrith Panthers star Kurt Capewell spoke up this week about an X-rated video of him engaging in a sex act with a male that was shot seven years ago under false pretences.
The 27-year-old says the footage, on AllAustralianBoys.com and also available on various other websites, was from a time when he was "young and naive" and chasing cash.
Kurt Capewell of Queensland looks on during game two of the 2020 State of Origin series. Photo / Getty images
Capewell said he was coerced into taking part in the film with "inducements and extra money" after initially agreeing to be a part of a photo shoot he thought was legitimate.
Capewell, who is in a long-term relationship with a woman, told teammates via text that he "got talked into doing an [adult film]" but "unknown to me it turned out they put a bloke on the other side of the wall".
It's understood that refers to a contraption the young men being filmed stand on one side of, with a much older man concealed on the other, performing sex acts.
The footballer's comments about feeling tricked mirror the experience of another young man who wound up on the website, who also spoke the lies, deceit and manipulation that made it happen.
Callum*, 30, told news.com.au what started as a friendly conversation with a potential romantic interest turned out to be an elaborate trap countless others had fallen into.
"I was chatting to a guy on Grindr, getting along well and at some point the conversation turned to him saying, 'Hey, you should go to this modelling shoot'," he said.
"I said, 'Funny, but no' but he persisted. He was rather insistent. The insistence said to me that maybe it's legit.
"He showed me a newspaper clipping, which I thought was a bit low tech but I wasn't concerned that I was to get harvested for my organs."
At a cafe in Brisbane, Callum and "two dozen other guys my age, early 20s" gathered for a man who appeared to be in his early 50s, who told them they would be modelling "trunks, boardies and Speedos".
After a short time, only three young men remained — the rest had been told to go home.
"If you got tapped on the shoulder you were successful. If not, see you later," Callum said.
"The man gave me a card and told me to turn up at a hotel on the Gold Coast at a particular time.
"There was no mention of exactly what would be happening. It isn't until you're in the room that you realise what's going on."
In that high-rise apartment, Callum was told that "whatever happens, happens".
"We weren't told explicitly, 'We're going to get you to take your clothes off and have sex with another man on camera'. But that's what it was."
Red flags went up but the young Queensland man says there were a number of reasons he didn't walk away.
"At that point in my life, I was heavily and chronically depressed. I was desperate for cash. I do definitely recall thinking, 'I'm not comfortable and I want to abort' but being an anxiety-ridden person I didn't think I could."
He says the producers of the X-rated films "targeted people of a certain age for a reason".
"They'll target people of that age and gender for that reason," he said. "They present what you're going to be doing in an innocent, non-harmful way. They say you're going to get money, we're going to take photos of you. It escalates from there.
"Once you're in the room, you've got the foot in the door, the reality of the situation becomes clearer."
Callum was paid "between A$250 and A$350" for the hour, which he admits was a lot for somebody not making much money.
The video, which is still online, has been seen by a number of his friends and acquaintances, some of whom bring it up candidly.
"The first time somebody talked about it to me it was in front of a bunch of people. I don't know if they were trying to shame me but they said, 'I haven't seen you since I saw you in that porn video'.
Others text him about the video occasionally. "Yes, that's me," he tells them.
He understands how Capewell got roped into appearing in the video. He was a vulnerable young man looking for quick cash when he was promised something that did not exist.
His advice for other young men who find themselves in the same situation?
"If it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is," he said.
"People that I know in the modelling industry who are legit, they say that those offers tend to not come from seedy old men in tiny studios you never heard of. The guy was wearing a T-shirt and boardshorts."
Callum says he also understands why Capewell tried to keep the video a secret.
"The whole thing about it being taboo, people trying to shame others for what they did. First of all, not cool. But everybody has sex. Society is too hung up with people getting paid to have sex."
On AllAustralianBoys.com, the operators promise regular updates with "hot new Aussie boys" but the website does not mention coercing those boys into agreeing to take part.
"All our boys we shoot, on location, at various locations throughout Australia. They're from big cities, rural and regional towns and off the family farm," the website reads.
The owner even has a biography on the site that discusses his upbringing at private school in Sydney and "how I got to this point".
