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Video Team

A good friend of AVN publisher Paul Fishbein, Chris started his company's entrance into black porn on a dare from a black customer who became an investor.

Christian Mann used to preside over the homo porn power Catalina and is a friend of drag queen Chi Chi LaRue.

From the 7/31/00 edition of Gene Ross.com: "Mann was actually the son of Kurt Mann who was in the printing business. "At some point in time there's the Joel Warner connection," [Paul] Cambria continued. "Some material was printed for Joel and Christian's father started to distribute it. Christian was working for his father. Then the 'real' Christian came out," said Cambria.

"He went to work for Catalina Video...Christian decided he had to leave and went back to the Warner influence where he worked for CPLC and Video Team. Of course he was promptly indicted....

"After that he started to run Video Team," said Cambria, "and his movies are something you should know very well. And I got to know Christian extremely well, so well that when he had a little problem at home, and his marriage fell apart, the Louis B. Mayer of the adult industry, Steve Hirsch and I split, allowing Christian to live at our homes. He lived at my place in Hollywood; then when my wife and out children were visiting, he'd move to Hirsch's castle in the Valley. The problem is I got the real Christian Mann - the Felix Unger, pain-in-the-ass. Hirsch got the yessir, yessir, three bags-full, can I weed your garden, can I fix your dinner? Nothing stupid about Christian Mann. He knew which guy to be that friendly with." (GeneRoss.com)

9/30/99

Luke interviewed the owner of Video Team, Christian Mann, Thursday morning. While I wait on hold, I hear hard rock music piped through the phone line.

Luke: Do you have any thoughts on the large number of Jews in porn?

Chris: No. I don't have any thoughts about ethnicity or religious background of people in the adult industry. I think it is a non-issue.

Luke: Are you guys still all-condom at Video Team?

Chris: Is Video Team still all-condom or not? I don't want to discuss that right now.

Luke: How did you feel about the AVN black adult video discussion?

Chris: I was not intending to be one of the participants. I was really there to help the moderator because the moderator was not that familiar with this segment of the business. And I couldn't help but get involved in the discussion.

How did I feel about it?

Mann sighs: I felt it was a worthwhile discussion... There has emerged this particular genre of tape... But I thought it was unfortunate that it came down to an issue of the racial make-up of the people making the videos. I felt there were some sentiments expressed, while honest expressions of people's feelings, that I do not agree with.

I feel that some of the people incorrectly believed that they had been discriminated against and I think that sometimes that is just an easy excuse. To say, I did not get that job because I am black. That may or may not be the case. I just think it is too easy to fall back on racial discrimination as the end-all answer to anything that does not go your way.

If L-ke Ford applies for a job, and does not get it, it'll be very easy for L-ke Ford to say, obviously an anti-semitic employer would not hire me because I am Jewish. When in fact, maybe they did not hire L-ke Ford because you are rude or obnoxious or any other number of reasons. You've just elicited more of a comment from me than I've made publicly since that issue came out.

Luke: I would've thought it as like a glass of cold water in the face.

Chris: I still respect people's rights to have an opinion. Your feelings may be wrong but they are still your feelings and you are entitled to them.

Luke: I found the notion, if you're not black, get back, disturbing.

Chris: Obviously I intend to keep producing black video and I believe that we do it tastefully within the parameters of making X-rated videos. Our attitude is race friendly and I think that the people who have worked for me will say that they have been treated fairly, regardless of their racial background. Video Team tries not to humiliate or ridicule anybody.

Luke: It seems that most black product out there, particularly outside of Video Team, seems degrading to blacks, this ho ghetto mentality.

Chris: I think the X-rated business reflects what is happening culturally. Look at the music business. You see probably far more accepted example of degradation, misogyny and race baiting than you do in the X-rated video business. And I think that the people doing it don't have a racial agenda they're trying to set forth. I don't think there are any companies owned by skinheads that are trying to promote a certain image of black people... They're just trying to do what will sell product. When I look ethnic product made by white video companies or white producers and I look at product like Jake Steed's Freaks, Hos, Flos, which is black owned, distributed and directed, his product can be just as 'degrading and racially insensitive' as that product produced by the others. Everybody is just doing what they can to make their product stand out and sell. We don't have a race agenda beyond not crossing the line into what is racially insensitive or promoting a negative racial stereotype.

We highlight the difference between the races and there are differences... We feature black performers... We point that out. We don't live in a colorblind world. There are people who want to see black performers as opposed to blonde performers. But outside of that, we avoid mean or hateful stereotypes. All of our plots don't center around pimps, hos, and maids and gangsters and criminals and the other hateful, hurtful stereotypes.

Do we always succeed? No. Let us not forget that we are still making low budget porno.

Our product is about 50% ethnic. We put out about three features and 12 compilations a month. Our budgets range greatly. I don't discuss my budgets. Some of my bigger budgets have been ethnic product... I don't say, this is a black movie, let's make it cheaper.

I've been reading your comments about the cable companies. I've had excellent support from the cable companies. Worldwide Broadcast aka The Big Hit and I've never been asked to change or manipulate the racial makeup of the performer. Nobody has ever said, you better stop picking black men with white women. I have heard that many years ago that was a factor. But since I have been marketing my product to the cable companies, I've never had them try to manipulate the racial makeup.

The only concern that the cable companies have shown me is that there is some attention paid to storyline, continuity, quality of the movie, and that we not depict copyrighted or trademarked logos. The standard legal concerns that apply to all the product. But I've never been told to lay off a certain type of racial coupling.

Luke: Do you guys do deals with Playboy?

Chris: Yes.

Luke: So would you say the reports that the major manufacturers are backing away from black men - white women scenes in their features are wrong?

Chris: I can't speak for other companies. But I have not experienced that.

Luke: When I think about interracial, I think of black men doing blondes.

Chris: More visual contrast. Robert Maplethorpe liked photographing that because it was visually striking.

Luke: Do you understand that interracial disturbs some people or is it all old hat to you?

Chris: There are some people who are interested in seeing that. I think that when it comes to sex, there are people who have preferences that otherwise would be considered prejudices. That somebody is turned on by blondes is ok. If that some person in employment only hired blondes, that would be discriminatory.

I'm sure that there are some people out there with a racial agenda who are disturbed by that. Then I think there are some people out there who are not racists...other than that they are sexually not interested in that. It's possible for someone to say, I do not want to see interracial sex in my sex videos. It does not stimulate me sexually. But that same person may be a fair employer and does not harbor notions of prejudice in the rest of their dealings.

I have no doubt that there are people who are perturbed by interracial sex. There's a proliferation of race baiting on the internet. There are white supremacist groups sprouting up around the country recruiting people who were born in the '70s and '80s, Gen X...who you'd think would not have that issue. There are young white supremacists out there. It's surprising to me but I'd like to think that I am not prejudiced racially or religiously or culturally.

Luke: Have you ever knowingly met a racist?

Chris: No. Nobody has come up to me and said, I'm a white supremacist or against racial mixing. I frequently wonder what L-ke Ford's issue is with this...with religion. I don't know if it is because you like to stir up emotions and initiate a dialogue by making outrageous statements. Journalistically I don't understand what you're about. But I do notice that it seems to be an ongoing theme. And I've read a lot of your writings and you're always talk about Judaism. And I know that your background, you were raised by very conservative Christian parents and you converted to Judaism and found fulfillment in that. Which is fine with me, of little consequence to me one way or another. But it seems to be pervasive in your writings so it is obviously an issue to you.

Luke: Yeah, it is. I find it interesting why there such a tiny group like Jews so dominates certain industries like academia, news media, psychology, Hollywood and pornography. And how most of these Jews have a marginal Jewish identity and rarely participate in Jewish life.

Chris: I'm not Jewish so I can't really comment on whether the successful Jewish people in entertainment are as devout as they could be, should be, shouldn't be... I have no opinion. I don't think it is any of my business. That there happen to be a lot of successful Jewish people, I think there's a cultural issue that Jewish people who emigrated to the United States raised their children to be successful, hard working and studious. You could probably look at Asian immigrants and find the same high ratio of successful entrepreneurial people. Look at any group that migrated from Europe or Asia to the US... These are people who've struggled, worked, focused on their ambition, and studied and made a successful start in this country. I think it's strictly cultural, and has nothing to do with their religious beliefs.

I know that there is a large trend in Judaism so that people who were Reform are going Conservative [more traditional in their religious outlook and observance]. The cultural pendulum is always swinging back and forth and I am not as fascinated by the issue as you.

I don't know if there is such a thing as asking you off the record. I've seen a lot of things that you've printed and the truth is, over the last several months, unless somebody says, hey, did you see something on Luke's site, I generally don't look at these sites. I don't have time. Whether it's yours or Gene's.

I think you make a lot of outrageous statements and I think that you surround them with phrases like "I wonder if," like, "I wonder if Christian Mann wears a teddy while having gay sex with Steve Hirsch." Which may be your right to do but my question to you would be, why? Is it to initiate dialogue or you want to stir people up. For what it's worth, it doesn't piss me off. I don't really care what you write about me on a website. I think people take it with a grain of salt. I don't think people really believe that stuff. I'm hoping, in my case. Why do you write things like that?

Luke: It's a great question and my honest answer is that I am not sure why. I think one reason is that I am Australian and I like cutting down tall poppies. That's why I go after Steve Hirsch. He's now the tallest poppy, the biggest pornographer.

Chris: It reminds of that sadistic dentist who gets tired of drilling on the same tooth because that nerve is dead. So he has to find a fresh one. I think that after a while of making so many outrageous statements, it lowers your credibility. When you say things that are obviously not true it casts doubt on your other work. Where you could be a real muckraker, a Matt Drudge, and really uncover scandal and come up with good scoops, I think it detracts from your ability to do that. Like the boy who cried wolf. I don't think there's any credibility left. So when you do come up with something that might be true or might be worth discussing, I don't think people take you seriously anymore. It seems to be more hurtful to your site, and stops you from being a journalist. I don't know if it makes you a satirist or just a madman ranting ad nauseum.