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Prolific pornography star Ron Jeremy and fuzzy sidekick "Pete the Porno Puppet" – a creation of a Christian church organization – are teaming up for a series of coming television commercials intended to keep children away from pornography.
Jeremy, who made his debut in porn movie "Tigresses and Other Man Eaters," claims he has slept with more than 4,000 women. He has appeared in more than 1,800 porn flicks since 1978, but in the commercials he plays himself, telling "Pete" to stay away from porn.
"We don't want kids to see our videos," Jeremy tells the puppet in his public service announcements.
These aren't the first commercials featuring "Pete." His career began in 2003, when XXXChurch.com, the largest anti-pornography site on the Internet, teamed up with porn producer James "Jimmy D" Digorgio to encourage kids to stay away from pornography.
The Jimmy D-and-Pete commercials ran on cable television with great success, so Craig Gross, who produces the commercials and also founded and pastors the online church to reach out to Christians who struggle with pornography, pitched the idea for a second round of commercials to the king of porn, Ron Jeremy.
Jeremy, who also is known as "The Hedgehog" in recognition of his hairy back, agreed.
Now a new series of public service announcements is slated to begin running at the end of August in which Jeremy and "Pete" discuss the films.
"I'm back again to talk about pornooography," the puppet said.
Ron Jeremy said he does not see his commercials as a contradiction to his trade.
"Pornography is for consenting adults... not for [kids]," he says in the commercials.
Gross started the XXXChurch to reach out to Christians, but his organization soon became much more.
Now, the self-described porn pastor and his team of assistants make appearances at adult expos, handing out Bibles and proclaiming their message: Jesus loves porn stars.
It was his outreach into the industry, and his connections there, that put him together with Degorgio at an expo booth one day, where the porn producer offered his equipment to help keep kids off porn.
"Everyone in the adult industry will say they don't want kids to access porn, but at the end of the day, many aren't willing to put their money where their mouth is," Gross told WND. "So when we had a man who produced porn ("Jimmy D.") say that if we needed help with anything, he'd be there, we jumped at the chance."
Another "Pete" commercial asks, "Listen kids, have you gone in your daddy's closet and found a bunch of magazines with naked mommies in them? Did this make your feel yucky inside?"
The two also debate the issue of pornography on college campuses around the United States in events sponsored by Wolfman Productions.
Gross said the idea behind the debates is "the Porn King against the Porn Pastor," and they've proven to be an effective tool.
After one debate, Gross received an e-mail that read in part, "The one thing I left with, feeling it even before that night, is that porn desensitizes you. What you fantasize about during a 'session' and what actually goes on in the bedroom with your partner are two completely seperate [sic] things."
The debates are among the various activities that have garnered mixed publicity for XXXChurch.com.
In April, the online church got attention for sponsoring speakers at Westwinds Community Church's "Porn Weekend," intended to highlight the problems associated with pornography and other harmful addictions. It featured teaching tools like Wally the Weiner, a 25-foot long penis.
Despite the fact that his online church was originally established to help believers, "many of the biggest critics are Christians themselves," Gross willingly admits.
"I can't measure our success, but the one thing I know is that whether you agree or disagree with our methods or motives, if it gets people talking about the issues, we're good," Gross said. He said he's gotten confirmation that people have been impacted by the ads – to the point of choosing to leave the industry.
"Through our debates, Ron and I have struck up a sort of friendship. It freaks people out, but even though we have many differences, we have found one thing we agree on, and we're working together on it," Gross told WND.
Gross says the minute-long commercials, which can be seen at XXXChurch.com, are not geared toward children so much as they are meant to emphasize parents' responsibilities.
