Celebrity Sex Tapes: A Laughing Stock or a Catapult to Fame

By Yosef Solomon on July 8th, 2009

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It’s difficult to go 30 minutes in this 24-hour news cycle world without hearing about another alleged sex tape. Most recently, defamed politician John Edwards has been mentioned to have recorded a sex tape with his former mistress. This “credible” information came from a disgruntled former staffer who, according to reports, will soon be releasing a tell all book about the affair.

It’s stories like this that has caused the once sensational sex tape, to become just another blip on the radar and an annoying sideshow for the cable news cycle to report. Today, after all, it has become very rare for a sex tape to become a big career booster, as it once was for such “celebrities” as Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. Regardless of the public’s weaning voyeuristic appetite, managers and publicists continue to exhaust and exploit this medium for the career booster it was once hoped to be. But is this always the case? The following are 15 examples of peculiar celebrity sex tapes and their implications (or lack thereof):

Leighton Meester

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Leighton Meester is best known for her role in the CW teen drama “Gossip Girl”, but pretty soon she’s going to be known for a lot more than her godawful acting. According to TMZ.com, a self-shot sex tape featuring Meester, and her boyfriend, has emerged online and is currently being promoted through celeb-hotline.com. Apparently, sources close to the deal and who have seen the tape report that Meester has some very talented feet. But talented enough to secure a million dollar deal? Radaronline.com reports that the asking price for this tape is upwards of a million bucks. Maybe with the release of this tape she will be as famous as Shannon Doherty once was. Probably not.

Danielle Staub

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New Jersey Housewife and Bravo Reality Star Danielle Staub is the latest semi-famous celebrity to become embroiled in a sex tape scandal. According to huffingtonpost.com, after being dated and dumped on-air by the 46-year-old, Steve Zalewski – who’s only 27 – is claiming to have tapes of the two engaging in various sex acts. He went on to tell iVillage.com that, “I’m definitely weighing my options as far as selling them [sex tapes] and getting them out there.” He continued, “She cost me so much money, why shouldn’t I make a few dollars?” Looks like this cougar may have messed with the wrong Guido. The first season of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” just ended, and we’ll see if this tape has any repercussions on her contract being renewed for season two.

Verne Troyer

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Truth be told, anyone can star in their own porno. Unfortunately, ANYONE can star in their own porno. Verne Troyer, aka ‘Mini-Me’ is just one of many celebrities mixed up in the dramedy of the leaked sex tape business. When the news first broke of his alleged video, and after the public was done throwing up, Troyer filled a $20-million lawsuit to stop the distribution of the explicit content. It’s funny that the news of this tape broke right around the release of his film the Love Guru. Truth is, the release of even a Justin Timberlake sex tape couldn’t have helped out this terrible film.

Jenna Lewis

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Reality TV has not only been polluting the airwaves for nearly a decade, but it has produced a bunch of half celebrity wannabes vying for the public’s attention long after their fifteen minutes has passed. An example of this is Jenna Lewis, from TV’s “Survivor”. According to realitytvworld.com, a tape of the “consummation of her marriage” was stolen and released online. After she penned an exclusive deal for an interview with Extra TV, she claimed to be “fighting mad,” while in the same interview promoting the website where the sex tape could be purchased and downloaded. Soon the media put two and two together and realized she leaked her own sex tape in order to garner publicity for her non-existent acting career. You would think with manipulative capabilities such as these, she’d have been a shoe in to win survivor.

Tom Sizemore

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Who releases an eight-hour sex tape? This guy. After filing for bankruptcy it seems Sizemore had only one option left to score some quick cash: his own home recorded sex tapes. I guess when you are out of money and have a debilitating drug problem it’s the only way to make money? In any case, problems continue to plague the beleaguered actor. Recently, according to TMZ.com, Sizemore was arrested once again, after which he decided to join the cast of VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab.”

Scott Stapp

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February 2006, was a notoriously difficult month for the lead singer of Creed. Not only were his solo album sales dismal, not to mention his arrest for public intoxication, but an old sex tape emerged as well. According to MSNBC.com, a videotape showing Kid Rock and Stapp engaging in explicit sexual activity with four female fans on a tour bus was acquired by the California company Red Light District. After the news of the tape broke, Stapp sued Red Light District. Months later, Stapp settled with the company for an undisclosed amount and the tape was never released. If the Creed Reunion Tour doesn’t go well this summer, maybe he can renegotiate with Red Light District and release the stomach-turning video in an effort to make some cash. Let’s hope not.

Keeley Hazel

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Keeley Hazel has made a name for herself as one of England’s most sought-after super models. This was due in part to her being one of England’s favorite page-three girls. However, in early 2007, according to theinsider.com, Keeley was forced to bear more than her gorgeous rack, when an ex-boyfriend leaked a sex tape of her online. The Sun reported that she called the cops to investigate and that she said, “This was a private video that was taken a long time ago…It’s a disgraceful invasion of my privacy.” In a separate posting on the insider.com Keely was quoted to say, “I have turned down offers to do Playboy covers because there were certain things I simply didn’t want others to see. Now I feel I have no dignity left.” This might be a good thing – we’ll have to just wait it out.

Pamela Anderson

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The sex tape that started it all! Yes, Pamela had posed for Playboy years before this tape was leaked to the public, but when this explicit, self-shot, sex tape hit the shelves it changed everything. Not only was this tape sold in stores, but it was the first to be distributed online, consequently starting this never ending craze for the next hottest celebrity sex tape. Fast forward from 1998 to 2005, and another sex tape is released of Anderson and ex-butt rocker Brett Michaels. According to softpedia.com Michaels and Anderson then went on to win a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the company distributing the content. Subsequently, this whole saga helped restart Bret Michael’s career as a Celebreality star on VH1. Not a bad career move for the balding Poison front man. And as far as Pamela Anderson is concerned, as of February of 2009, theinsider.com reported her living with her new boyfriend in his trailer. Staying classy I see.

Chyna

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Several years ago, former female wrestler Chyna released a sex tape of her and then fiancé Sean Waltman. She struck a deal with the company Red Light District to distribute her homemade sex tape in 2004 (probably due to speculation of what her gender was/is). The video then sold over 100,000 copies and won an Adult Video News Award for being the top selling video of 2005. After the success of her hardcore endeavor she went on to become a VH1 Celebreality Star by making appearances on “The Surreal Life” and “Celebrity Rehab”. According to perezhilton.com, Chyna later created a sequel that was released in March, 2009. However, it appears the world was not yet ready for another Chyna video, as it met very little fanfare. Too bad.

Fred Durst

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In 2005, metal wannabe and white trash extraordinaire Fred Durst got hacked. And what the hacker found was a sex tape of the Napoleonic-complexed Durst trying to please his now ex-girlfriend Masha Novoselova. The tape was then released into the blogosphere, and Durst’s already tarnished reputation was further diminished. According to USA Today Durst then went on to sue the websites who distributed the tape for more than $70 million dollars. Speculation has since been raised that Durst was actually responsible for the original release of the tape, in an effort to rejuvenate his flailing career. And really, who would doubt that? Especially as he had previously claimed to have dated both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, only to have them both publicly deny such claims.

Lauren Conrad

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During the  infamous feud between “famous for nothing” Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag, rumors of a sex tape emerged starring Conrad and an ex-boyfriend. This stunt garnered the intended publicity by TV Execs and has since continued to be a sideshow for gossip media outlets even though the saga began in 2007. Not to mention the fact that both Conrad and her ex-boyfriend have since repeatedly refuted the claim that the sex tape even exists. According to realitytvworld.com, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt refuse to let this rumor die. Apparently, when your entire livelihood is made off creating drama between two former best friends, you will do or say anything to stay in the public spotlight.

Dustin Lance Black

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The Oscars were particularly exciting for the gay community this year as Gus Van Sant’s Milk won two Oscars for best screenplay and best actor. And the excitement continued for the gay community when news broke about a leaked sex tape featuring screenwriter Dustin Lance Black in the starring role. According to queerty.com the photos and video are making the web rounds showing Black and an as-yet-unidentified partner engaged in intimate bedroom activities. Black responded to the leak by posting this statement in an article on eonline.com, “It is unfortunate that individuals and other outside parties are trying to profit from material which is clearly private.” Since the leak of the sex tape, both Black’s celebrity and platform as an ambassador for gay rights seem to have been untarnished by the untimely and embarrassing episode. Fortunately for Black, gay celebrity sex tapes don’t have quite the same attention grabbing headlines as ones starring drugged up celebutantes.

Paris Hilton

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This disease of an heiress was unleashed onto the public when a sex tape of her and then-boyfriend Rick Solomon emerged in 2004. Since then she has seemingly been everywhere and anywhere promoting anything that would generate her spoiled ass even more money. Recently, eonline.com reported about her appearance on Kathy Griffin’s reality show. In it, Hilton was reported to say this about the practice of oral sex,” I never do that. My mom always taught me only ugly girls need to go down on their knees and do things like that.” Apparently, Hilton has forgotten about her now infamous sex tape? Then again I guess if she doesn’t think about something…it doesn’t exist. Sounds nice.

Rob Lowe

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Thankfully for Lowe, many people have forgotten about the sex tape he made with an underage girl in the late 1980s. People Magazine reported in the March 19, 1990 issue that Lowe’s slide into tabloid hell began on July 17, 1988. It was then that Lowe met a 16-year-old girl at an after party in Atlanta and soon found himself alone with two girls taping his exploits. The mother of the teenage girl then found the tape and filed a lawsuit accusing Lowe of using, “…his celebrity status as an inducement to females to engage in sexual intercourse, sodomy and multiple-partner sexual activity for his immediate sexual gratification, and for the purposes of making pornographic films of these activities.” A porn producer couldn’t have written a better press release for the sex tape. CNNs oon got wind of this and a media storm ensued. Needless to say, this was the first celebrity sex tape to be given any media attention in the modern era of 24-hour cable news cycles. Fortunately, for Lowe, Al Gore hadn’t yet invented the Internet, so the damage that could have been done, wasn’t.

Collin Farrell

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When rising star Colin Farrell made a sex tape in 2003 with then-girlfriend Nicole Narain (aka Miss January 2002) he never intended for it to see the light of day. But right before Miami Vice came out in 2006, he found out his ex-girlfriend was shopping their sex tape around for a estimated three million dollars. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, a judge in Los Angeles ruled that Farrell could proceed with a lawsuit to stop a former girlfriend from selling the sex tape they made. The lawsuit was based on grounds that the tape could damage his public reputation. Shortly after the judge ruled in his favor, however, scenes from the 13-minute tape were leaked online. Fortunately, this entire incident proved to be just a footnote in Farrell’s career, confirming that his sex tape incident was little more than just another annoying celebrity side show.