HE was once dubbed the ‘Pied Piper of porn’, whose murky dealings led to stars like Paris Hilton seeing their X-rated videos flogged around the world.
But decades on, notorious ‘sex tape broker’ Kevin Blatt insists far more celebs have him to THANK for hushing up salacious sex scandals that include ‘meth orgies’ and a world-famous ‘family man’ rapper caught getting special treatment from a dancer at a VIP club.
Pamela Anderson’s sex tape took the world by storm[/caption]
Sex tape ‘broker’ Kevin Blatt believes Kim Kardashian owes her massive fame to her sex tape with rapper Ray J[/caption]
The notorious fixer also believes the era of sex tapes is over[/caption]
In a rare interview, the 44-year-old says celebrity sex tapes have now become “too hot to handle”, sparing modern stars the same fate as the likes of Kim Kardashian or Pamela Anderson.
But the unrepentant fixer insists he has no regrets about promoting Paris Hilton’s infamous home video of her sexual escapades with ex Rick Salomon in 2001 – and even claims it boosted her career.
He also confesses that there is also a huge amount of sensitive footage that he has personally kept of out the public eye, with household names shelling out hundreds of thousands to make such videos ‘disappear’.
In addition to X-rated images, such compromising material can also often include evidence of infidelity, drug use, or closeted sexual behaviour, according to Blatt.
Watertight non-disclosure agreements prevent him from legally being allowed to name any of the big names he has kept hidden, but he teased: “There’s probably the biggest rapper in the world, a family man, who got caught with his pants down – quite literally – in a club.
“He was in a VIP room getting serviced from one of the dancers, and we took that tape off the market.
“That was a considerable one. A decision like that protected his reputation and empire.
“I’m telling you, his celebrity in the last 10 years got even bigger than ever, and he’s been around for 30 years. So that saved his reputation.”
He added: “And a female TV star, who was on a huge show beloved by teens, had a tape with her ex-boyfriend that got stopped.
“I have seen tons of athletes’ tapes – mostly people that aren’t tremendously big stars worldwide.
“But a significant one that was closed down was this major NFL Superbowl winner who just got out of hand during a vacation with his woman.
“And he filmed it all on her phone so she walked away with it. If you’re dumb enough to make a sex tape on some chick’s phone, you’re a dummy, you’re going to pay.”
Meth orgies
Blatt recalled the “weirdest tape” he ever dealt with featured a 1990s movie star, famous for Academy Award-winning films.
“He was shacked up with a bunch of hookers, cracked out of his mind on crystal meth, and it was crazy,” he said.
“Three or four women were having sex with him, each other and were throwing dildos around. And he was even talking into the camera breaking the fourth wall. It was nutty.
“And the truth is no one wants to see male sex tapes. Male sex tapes don’t sell.”
Blatt has no regrets for boosting the sex tape of Paris Hilton[/caption]
He explained that deals to make tapes disappear are done for an average of a quarter of a million dollars.
He added: “$250,000 to a lot of these guys is nothing, but also enough to get somebody to capitulate.“
Infamous sex tapes
Blatt is most notorious for his involvement in the release of the sex tape of Paris Hilton – then a relatively unknown hotel heiress and LA socialite who was soon to star in her own FOX reality TV series, The Simple Life.
The 44-year-old socialite has said the scandal will impact her forever, calling it the “most humiliating experience of my life” and saying it was like being “electronically raped”.
Many suspected that Hilton herself was behind the leak as part of a publicity stunt – but that wasn’t the case. Her ex-boyfriend Saloman distributed the footage under the title One Night In Paris and a myriad of lawsuits ensured, with Paris eventually agreeing to settle in 2004.
Blatt has remained tight-lipped over his role in the sleazy affair, but insists he feels no shame.
Likewise, he has also defended his early talks with Kim Kardashian’s ex Ray J, who eventually went elsewhere to strike a deal for the release of her notorious sex tape.
After the video’s release in 2007, Kim Kardashian hastily filed a lawsuit that she quickly dropped.
Like Paris, she has routinely denied ever having any role in leaking the tape.
But unrepentant Blatt said: “Paris ended up a billionaire because of the sex tape and so did Kim.”
He added: “The Kardashians took it one step further because not only did Kim become a billionaire, their whole family became billionaires.
“The amount of money they’ve made wasn’t because Kim’s father represented OJ Simpson.
“If people thought that this was such an interesting family, they would’ve had a reality show years before any of this stuff.”
Blatt says Kim’s sex tape – pictured here with Paris Hilton – made her entire family billionaires[/caption]
The footage of Pamela and Tommy was taken from their honeymoon[/caption]
Blatt, who describes himself as Hollywood leading reputation management agent, also rebutted Pamela Anderson’s claim that footage of her romping with ex-husband Tommy Lee on their honeymoon in 1995 ruined her career and life.
When the original tape was stolen from a safe inside their home, the couple attempted to file an injunction to prevent anyone from showing it, but their claim was thrown out by the courts and the film quickly spread around the world.
Former Baywatch star Pamela, 58, said later: “It was such an invasion, we were angry, hurt and upset.
“If anyone watches it, if anyone buys it, if anyone sells it, it’s just pathetic. You can’t put a monetary number on the amount of pain and suffering it caused.
“I was the punchline of jokes on a lot of talk shows. It was super-humiliating.
I liken sex tapes to extraordinary car wrecks: you look at them and you’re like, wow…
Kevin Blatt
“After that it just solidified the cartoon image of me, you become a character. I think that was the deterioration of whatever image I had.”
Blatt remains unmoved, saying: “I’ve never seen it really hurt somebody. It’s only dusted them off and got them back into the public eye again.
“I liken sex tapes to extraordinary car wrecks, you look at them and you’re like, wow.
“No pun intended, but the bottom line is the stories become folklore. They become things that people talk about.”
The Baywatch star later said how the leaking of her sex tape left her “hurt and upset”[/caption]
A major court case over Hulk Hogan’s sex tape forever changed the legal battleground surrounding them[/caption]
Blatt’s ties to the Hilton and Kardashian tapes landed him the nickname the “accidental pornographer”.
In the years since, he has made dozens of sex tapes disappear through a negotiation process that tip-toes delicately around a California law that requires both parties depicted to consent to its publication.
Blatt’s morally questionable line of work usually begins with a message or a call from a third party who claims to be in possession of some potentially damaging material featuring a well-known model, actor, reality star, singer, or athlete.
From there, the fixer will first vet the material, establishing whether it’s legitimate, whether or not it was captured illicitly, and who the rightful copyright owner of the material is.
Then, he will contact representatives for the celebrity the material pertains to, and attempt to obtain authorization from the participants to release it.
Failing that, he will offer to bury the material for good in exchange for money and silence.
Previously admitting he operates in a “gray area” of the law, Blatt has claimed his line of work doesn’t constitute blackmail or extortion because there’s no “implied threat.”
Changing tide
Today, the controversial fixer reckons the business of stars using X-rated bedroom romps to raise their public profile is over.
Blatt believes that tighter regulation surrounding internet freedom and modern media structures mean famous faces will never have to deal with the same kind of public humiliation again.
In the past steamy tapes were sold through a loophole which allowed shops or websites to give away the tapes with the purchase of another product.
Now, however, there needs to be an additional level of consent involved with a commercial release – distributors must provide proof of identification.
Laws were tightened after Hulk Hogan settled a long running legal dispute which eventually allowed him to register his sex tape with the US copyright office to halt further distribution.
The controversial tape showed the late WWE star involved in sexual acts with Heather Cole, the ex-wife of radio host Bubba ‘The Love Sponge’ Clem, who caught the footage on home security cameras.
Blatt says Hogan’s lawsuit changed everything.
I really don’t know if there is a future for celebrity sex tapes
Kevin Blatt
He explained: “What it really comes down to is how to monetise them these days.
“I could put out a sex tape right now, but the minute I hit the submit button on YouTube or upload it to PornHub, it is pirated and sent out to every site out there – there’s no way of making money.
“The thing about the Paris Hilton sex tape was we had VHS tapes, we had DVDs and Pay Per View, so you had all these delivery vehicles at that particular time, and that’s what made it so profitable. That’s what made it so ubiquitous.”
He continued: “I really don’t know if there is a future for celebrity sex tapes.
“When US Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham’s tape came out it was too well lit, well shot and it took away that allure of looking at something that you’re not supposed to be looking at.
“Ultimately that is what drove all of the interest during that period to a good celebrity sex tape.
“So the celebrity sex tape really ended with Farrah Abraham.
Blatt says that Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham’s sex tape marked a turning point[/caption]
Blatt added that OnlyFans has allowed celebrities to take control of their own tapes[/caption]
“I don’t know if there’s going to be anything going forward.
“Unless it’s got some crazy sex act in it or a celebrity that you would never believe would give their rights and sign off on it I just don’t see it happening because there just isn’t that kind of interest in them anymore.”
Another factor is that globally flogging bedroom romps of major names can now be seen as revenge porn, meaning a higher chance of successful legal action.
“Revenge porn didn’t exist 20 years ago when these tapes were coming out,” added Blatt.
The public are more cynical too, and quickly see through stars who use a sex tape scandal to bolster their profile.
Blatt said: “When people know that somebody’s behind the release of their own sex tape, well, then it becomes a thirstiness that nobody really believes.”
And now many famous faces control and monetise their ability to serve up their own titillating imagery through subscription online services like OnlyFans, a hugely successful site which has around 400million user and subscriber accounts.
“What OnlyFans really did was cut out the middleman,” said Blatt.
“In the adult business 25 years ago, girls were shooting scenes for that cigar chomping, tattooed porno shop owner – that’s no longer the case.
“Now you can broadcast your own channel.
“OnlyFans has made the distribution so much better for somebody who wants to do a sex tape, that’s going to be the next frontier.”
Blatt stars in the new documentary Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes, available now on Apple TV+.
