Mr Marcus at AVN in Jan this year
NL-Do You Forgive Him?
from http://www.xbiz.com/news/153050
Syphilis-Positive Porn Performer Mr. Marcus Apologizes, Admits to Altered
LOS ANGELES — Adult performer Mr. Marcus told XBIZ Tuesday that he is “very sorry” for altering his STI test result that showed he tested positive for syphilis, saying he only worked with the altered test because his doctor assured him that he would not be contagious after taking a shot of penicillin and waiting at least 10 days before any sexual activity.
In an emotional interview that at one point brought the 18-year veteran star to tears, Mr. Marcus admitted that he made “mistakes” in recent weeks, but that he never once felt he was endangering anyone else by performing three times between July 24 and Aug. 8.
“I have to live with this, no one else does,” Mr. Marcus said. “I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. I did not think that this would come out like this. I’m sorry. All I can do is try to make some good happen. That’s it. I can do that. I can stand up. I’ve been taking a lot of shit. I can take it.”
Mr. Marcus made his first comments to the media at his San Fernando Valley office while accompanied by Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke and FSC board member Christian Mann, who is also general manager of Evil Angel Productions. Both Duke and Mann, who praised Mr. Marcus’ “courage” for coming forward publicly, have been assisting the performer since Saturday, Aug. 18, when a genealogy, or record, of who he has worked with both after and before first testing positive was initiated by FSC’s Adult Production Health & Safety Services (APHSS).
Marcus said that as of Tuesday each of the female performers he had worked with since testing positive had so far re-tested negative for syphilis and that he had been in communication with all of them, which both Duke and Mann confirmed.
Mr. Marcus explained that he underwent a test with his personal physician on July 11. That test came back positive for syphilis on July 12, and after his doctor informed him of the diagnosis, he received a shot on July 13 and was told at that time to wait “seven to 10 days” before sex.
“Once I did that shot, I felt pretty confident. Every doctor I talked to up to that point had said get the shot. That’s it,” Marcus said. “If you’ve had the syphilis in your system a lot longer than that, then you need three shots. But based on what he was able to determine from my blood, and looking at my symptoms, he had said the one shot was good enough. So I did the one shot. I didn’t have to do anything else. There was no follow-up.”
Marcus said that including his initial visit to his personal doctor on July 11 that he has taken five STI tests, two with his doctor and three with adult industry testing lab Talent Testing Services (TTS), “because I just didn’t understand what was going on.” His first test with TTS after the positive diagnosis was on July 21.
He said that he didn’t know why his test continued to show “reactive” for syphilis when he had already gotten the shot and waited for the 10-day period. Plus, the TTS test continued to show the number figure for Marcus’ RPR level, or Rapid Plasma Reagin that is used to track the progress of the infection over time.
Marcus said that during the first week of August he returned to TTS because the production company for which he was scheduled to shoot required a new test from everyone. And when he arrived, he was told by a clinician that “your numbers are still there.”
“The syphilis thing was still reading, and I looked at them and they looked concerned, and they said, ‘Maybe we can omit it from the actual test. When we submit your blood, we can just not have them test for that,’” Marcus claimed. “And I was like, ‘can you do that?’ [They said] ‘I think so.’
“And so they sat down at the computer and started clicking on things. And I didn’t see what they were clicking on but I saw that they were clicking on something.”
Marcus alleged that a TTS clinician told him that the part of his test that shows “reactive or non-reactive” for syphilis could be removed from his test “because it’s always going to be there.”
“I get over there to pick up my test and they told me that the numbers were still there, and they gave me the printed copy of my test without the syphilis. It was omitted,” Marcus said. “We can remove it because it’s always going to be there. The look on my face was just kind of like, ‘oh, I still gotta deal with this and she was like, ‘well is there anything that we can do in the computer to like omit it.’ And he said, ‘well maybe when we send the blood in, we can ask them not to test for that.’ But, they tested anyways. They were doing it anyway. So when the blood came, they tested it like they normally do, but when they printed out the test it was omitted. But still, that number was on the bottom. That number was always going to be there. That was there, but the syphilis reactive part was gone.”
Marcus added, “There’s a man and a woman there.’ And the guy was the one that sat down at the computer and started trying to change it for me. To try to make it so that that’s not tested for.”
But Sixto Pacheco, president of Talent Testing Services, on Wednesday categorically denied that Mr. Marcus’ test had been altered by someone who works at his lab.
“Our system does not permit the altering of test results. Our system does not allow that to happen,” Pacheco told XBIZ.
Marcus claimed that the male and female clinicians at the TTS office thought they were helping him out.
“You wouldn’t do anything unless consciously, you feel like you can still live with it,” Marcus said. “I think with [the TTS clinicians], I had been treated. I took that shot. That’s all you can do.”
In addition to his claim that TTS omitted part of his test result that was printed for him by a lab clinician in early August, Marcus said he did alter his TTS test from July 21 by making a photo copy of the test after folding it in half. The only person he gave this version to was Mark Blazing from Blazing Bucks, who noticed a discrepancy with the test on Aug. 7, Marcus said. Blazing did not wish to comment at post time, but indicated he would be making a statement in the coming days.
XBIZ on Aug. 16 reported that one unidentified male performer in the Los Angeles porn community had tested positive for syphilis and had worked with an altered test three times, according to talent agents Shy Love and Derek Hay. Marcus on Tuesday did not dispute that story.
“When I got the test on the 21st, I didn’t really know what to do because it was still showing up. What I did was I folded the test and made a copy of it with that part omitted, the reactive. OK, the number was still on the bottom,” Marcus said. “And I made a copy of it, and I just had that. I didn’t use it. I just had it. I just wanted to see if I could do it.
"And when Mark asked me to bring in a copy of the test, I brought in that copy. I didn’t want any questions asked, I didn’t want to get into this …. And he took it. And then he called me, maybe it was a week later, or less. And he asked me, ‘This test doesn’t look right. Do you have another version of it?’ And I said, ‘Well, I do.’
“The way it went down was kind of like [Mark said], ‘Marcus, I need another test from you. This test is not right. I gotta let somebody know that you altered this test. It looks altered. It doesn’t look right. I’m going to get Derek on the phone.’”
It was a female performer represented by Hay, the owner of LA Direct Models, that had worked with Marcus in the scene for Blazing.
Marcus continued, “We were going back and forth. I didn’t think that was necessary. But he was adamant. So Derek gets on the phone and says, ‘You’re altering tests and I’ve seen it. And you’ve got this fake test.’ [Adult Talent Managers owner] Shy was supposedly on the phone, but she never said a word if she was. He said, ‘we need the original copy.’ And I said, ‘OK, I’ll email it to you. And when I did that, I also scanned in the copy from TTS to show him my test and their test side by side, and that they had omitted it. Because I had asked them to. But I had omitted it because I was trying to avoid that discussion, that inquiry as to why it was reactive.
“For the longest time in my heart I really thought I was doing the right thing by omitting it and moving forward and not admitting it. But I eventually had to just admit that I changed that test.”
Marcus claimed that folding the test and making a copy of it made it look “identical to what TTS did and the way I did it.”
“Where it says reactive, I just folded it, and I lined it up perfectly where it would be covered,” he said.
Marcus added that, “Ultimately, it’s the safety of the performers. I exposed a loophole.”
“I’ve shown you that the way it worked for me, probably somebody could do it 10 times worse,” Marcus reasoned. “Not everybody’s running around showing [their tests]. We’re dealing with syphilis now. … And we’re dealing with it in our industry. And I’m the guy. I didn’t want to be the guy, but I’m the guy. Because of who I am, oh yeah, the guns are out.
"But the learning curve, what I found, was huge. A lot of people in this industry didn’t know, were totally unaware how syphilis works. How this test reads it. I tried to cover it up. I didn’t want to have to share that part. Because I said it was like the scarlet letter. It’s the word. Syphilis, whoa. Mr. Marcus, syphilis? Mr. Marcus, the one I worked with? The one that everybody works with? The one that’s been in this industry forever?"
Marcus said the first scene he did after the positive syphilis test was on July 24.
“I figured I’d give the medicine enough time to work. And I had lost work. I canceled stuff, so I decided to come back,” he said.
Marcus said that after his July 21 test at Talent Testing Service came back “reactive” for syphilis, he canceled the shoot he had scheduled for July 23.
“Actually I was fine, but I didn’t know that,” he said. “I went and called my doctor up, ‘What’s going on?’ and he said, ‘It’s going to be in your system. It’s going to stay in your system. It’s going to read in your system, because that’s how syphilis is.’ And I was like OK. At that point, I felt OK that I can continue to work because he said it’s just always going to read that way.”
A day later, Marcus went ahead with performing in his first scene since the positive result because he believed based on what his doctor told him that the medication had sufficient time to work and he was not contagious. Marcus said that because he’s so well known among directors in the industry that they usually don’t ask him for a copy of his STI test when he arrives on the set, and that was the case on July 24.
“I show up on set most of the times and it’s really between me and the performer,” he said.
“That specific shoot didn’t ask for the test. They just wanted to see something visual, so I had it on my cell phone. I showed it. But the way I showed it was, I showed, you know, my HIV was clear. My gonorrhea and chlamydia were fine. You didn’t see the syphilis part of the test because of the way I showed it. And I did that on the 24th and then I started shooting at that point.”
Marcus acknowledged that “this is where my mistake came in.”
“This is where I made the big mistake. I just didn’t want to have to explain that part of the test,” Marcus said. “I knew that I had tested and been treated and this was always going to be on the test. I didn’t know how to explain it. And there were no protocols. I had never had a test like this before. I knew I had been treated from what I researched but, I didn’t know how to explain that. I wanted to keep that to myself.”
Marcus continued, “The stigma with syphilis is, you get it and you’re always going to infect people. You’re always going to be infectious, and it’s not true. You get that shot, it’s penicillin. It’s like [treatment for] chlamydia and gonorrhea, it starts to work in seven to 10 days.
“Every doctor, from doctors in this industry, to my personal doctor, says seven to 10 days. That’s allowed that medicine to work. Then you’re fine. Then you can proceed. Then you can go on. That was my mistake. If I had known better, I could have educated other people in the process. I could’ve told them. This is what happened to me. This is what I did. I’ve already been tested. Here’s my medicine. Here’s the day I took it. And I could explain that. But it’s in hindsight that’s 20/20.”
Marcus said that initially, TTS didn’t know that he had already seen his personal doctor and been diagnosed and treated.
“Unfortunately, the way this industry works and the way this testing starts to unfold, there was no doctor at TTS to talk to. You’re dealing with two clinicians. And I had this rapport with them that was very casual, very conversational, like, ‘hey Marcus, here’s your test. You might want to do something about that.’ Well I did and it’s always going to show up like that. … So they can’t really help me,” he said.
Marcus claimed that TTS did not offer to notify anyone who may have worked with him since he first tested positive there on July 21, “until the last time I came back in there and I asked for the test to have that part omitted.”
“I took three tests and it kept coming up and I was like what the hell,” he said. “I kept waiting for the medicine to wipe it out completely. So the third time around, they gave me this card and said you might want to contact this doctor.”
“But I was already dealing with my own physician. Any time I had any questions or anything, I would call him, ‘Like what’s going on with my test. I took this and I went and re-tested and my blood is still showing that it’s in there.’ And then I asked him about side effects. I asked him, ‘is there anything that still shows I have it in my system?’ He said, ‘you got the one shot, you’re fine.’
“And that’s pretty much the attitude that every doctor that I talked to [had]. I even went back to the place where I got the medicine and I got the shot. And the place where I saw the doctor are two different places. And I even went back to the medicine place to get another shot because I thought it wasn’t working. And that doctor says, ‘you don’t need another shot. You’re fine.’ So I walked out of there without getting another shot.”
Marcus said he doesn’t deserve blame that “I brought syphilis into this industry,” and believes that he became infected on a set, not in his personal life.
“I didn’t give it to myself, No. 1. I had no symptoms. I had been testing frequently like everybody else," he said.
Marcus, who expressed that he wants to continue "doing business" in the adult industry, concluded, “I wish I would’ve brought up my personal medical records first-hand, and used that to show the steps I’m taking or took. I just would’ve handled it differently. That’s it. I just would’ve done things differently. I didn’t have nothing to be ashamed of, but I instantly felt it. I felt like this is something that I can’t share with anybody.”
FSC’s Duke said that since APHSS was already in contact with the performers with whom Marcus worked after his positive test, her main concern was working on the genealogy for the performers that he worked with prior to finding out he was infected.
“What’s really important is if somebody knows that you have a positive for syphilis, the only way to protect who he’s worked with and all the other people in the industry that they’re going to work with is to make sure you’ve done the partner identification,” Duke said. “You have to be able to consolidate that.
“And because of what’s going on in Budapest and the upswing there. We’ve increased testing to every month and starting [Wednesday] those performers will be getting the first prophylactic treatment for syphilis.
Christian Mann said APHSS had already begun conducting a genealogy for European and American performers who have worked together in recent months prior to the outbreak in Hungary being discovered.
“Look, you might come back with the test that’s out there now that’s non-reactive,” Mann said. “But all the more reason to take the prophylactic treatment because you can have that dormancy on the test result, yet may be carrying [the infection]. Not necessarily infectious, but we’re doing the right thing as best we can. … There’s definitely a crisis in Budapest and we have to make the No. 1 priority partner notification, and I’ll go one step further, partner education, about what is the right thing to do at this moment.”
Duke concluded, “Yes definitely mistakes were made. And I know for me to say this out loud, this man took a lot of courage to come forward and do this. … It does take a lot of courage to come up and admit the mistakes that you made in manipulating a test. Yes, there were mistakes made. But because Marcus came forward we were able to start the genealogy, which is so critical. And we were also were able to start developing our strategic plan."
She added, “We spent three hours with Dr. Peter Miao [from Cutting Edge Testing] on Sunday. I was on the phone with our doctors’ network, and the head of that network and Dr. Miao were speaking and there were calling microbiologists. We’ve talked to the nation’s utmost expert on syphilis. So we’ve been pulling in all the experts, the great minds.”
Mann stressed that FSC is not trying to justify Marcus’ actions.
“The Free Speech Coalition is not whitewashing or condoning or excusing the behavior that Marcus had that was inappropriate," Mann said. "Some of it based on lack of information. Some of it based on genuine belief that he wasn’t endangering anybody and some of it… Some deceit that was based on a self-serving agenda that can’t be excused. The behavior can’t be excused, but we don’t throw our own away and we’re not setting ourselves up as judge and jury of anyone.
“We’re here to help the industry and I maintain that showing compassion for a brother and giving anybody the dignity to rebut, to make a statement on their own behalf. And most importantly, creating an environment where it’s safe for them to come forward and start the genealogy.”
There has been alot written that TTS withheld information from the industry, and that if Mr. Marcus had gone to an APHSS approved facility this wouldn’t have happened. How wrong you are. Had Marcus gone to CET on that day in July he would not have been tested for syphilis and been given the green light from FSC/APHSS/Manwin. We all know tht APHSS was not going to do syphilis testing until next month. Now just imagine if Marcus had been testing at CET all along. There is the very real possibility that he would still be working and not even know about his syphilis condition until sometime next month. As easy as syphilis is to transmit, just imagine if he was still working today, and for several more weeks before gettting tested for syphilis. It is already bad enough with the County Health department now reporting that after interviewing the first five positive patients they have now found four more from the list of names they got from those first five. We are now talking about second and third generation exposures from the original person coming up positive. And now the county is getting the names of the people that these four new cases had contact with. This is going to get worse.
You all have to remember, he did not stop becasue he felt bad about what he did, he stopped because he got caught. He never came forward, he was outed.
“I do not think he cheated the system.” Dianne Duke
There’s more to this, the story told by him and Duke will probably change in a few days. And yeah he’s only apologizing since he got caught.
Ahhh….first of all…not only did Mr. Marcus know about his illness, but he got himself treated as soon as he was diagnosed. Remember, he was already diagnosed by his personal doctor on July 11th, and had undergone the treatment.
Second…the only reason why CET didn’t provide the treatment was because they hadn’t yet become aware of the outbreak in Budapest…and once they did, they went ahead and added the syphilis test. So, that’s a moot point.
Besides, because syphilis stays in the antibodies and generates a positive test even after a person is treated, a positive test still would have been flagged under the APHSS standards.ec
Third….CET actually has a licensed doctor on staff to refer those who are infected for treatment, under the terms of the APHSS protocols. TTS doesn’t…which is why it was TTS officials who were first alerted to the altered test…yet did nothing to inform anyone else.
Finally…what’s to say that those other cases that were discovered by LACDPH aren’t even related to Mr. Marcus or his partners. APHSS just reported that they have confirmed a syphilis infection from a gay male porn star; what’s to say that those other infections aren’t coming from that side, or from the still active outbreak in Budapest??
Mr. Marcus is certainly responsible and should be held accountable for altering the tests…but TTS and ATMLA have their own explaining to do as well. And not just to the performers, either: last time I checked, falsifying medical records is a criminal felony in California. Perhaps that’s why they’re sucking up to AHF and UCLA so much of late??
Anthony
He should be banned from porn movies for life for what he did. How many people lost wages due to his stupidity?
He just poured gasoline on the fire thats already going with the AFH, condom law, and testing. He did not come FORWARD to fix his deception, he was outed.
As far as I’m concerned what Mr. Marcus did is unforgivable.
Since he’s been a performer for a long time he knows better. Since he also produces his own movies, he knows better in terms of business liability for what he has done. So double shame on him.
And shame on any company that ever ever ever hires him again.
Questions; so new testing protocols which include syphilis was about to be implemented but Marcus had to test prior because a new company required him to? And a positive test is permanent even if u r clean to work? If this is the case then this is another example of tests being a ludicrous thing. And if a person tests positive for syphilis, gets treated and is supposedly given the go ahead to work again then what is supposed to be done about these permanent positive readings and what’s the point of having them if the test won’t state whether or not you’re currently clean if you’ve ever had it?
This all reeks, this is why porn is in such a mess. Goes back to the clowns in Canada who could not run their business properly and gave Fabian a chance to open the door. Not that it was any better before, and like I told Mr Whiteacre, porn needs some new voices. Even if its someone with a veneer of respectability, like what Weinstein does for the AHF. We get Margold, Dr Mitch, Nina and Ernest, Dianne, Herbie Dingle Kernes, skin peel Steve, and now the man behind the curtain, Fabian the Fuhrer.
it’s a criminal act and why is not being treated as such? The people who are trying to sugar coat this need to fucking stop and call it for what it is if they want anyone to give them an ounce of respect.
the FSC and everyone else needs to say “he fucking lied and he endangered people and he got caught, he didn’t come forward.” instead they try and make everyone feel better so that shooting can resume.
Sickening
We can all agree mr Marcus is a low rent classless piece of dog shit
He refuses to take his hat off indoors, I don’t know why anyone is surprised
I call bullshit. There is NO evidence that TTS official altered any part of Marcus’ test. What would be their motive for doing so? Altering medical records is a felony…
And I second Mariah. All these diseases are PREVENTABLE. It’s really gross that you have to deal with contracting herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia and now syphilis to work in porn. Really gross…
No, I do not forgive Mr. Marcus. He should be banned for life for altering the test. Marc Wallice altered his test and was banned. Chris
this is not like oh I talked shit about u I’m sorry I mean I had an entire week of work cancelled it could have been worst stds r very serious ! Everybody is panicking! Makes our industry look bad !! to me an apology doesn’t cut it alexis ford
hell no. He’s damaged the industry, the talent, and the image of black talent. #exilemrmarcus
I think he should go to prison
he could not have picked a worse time to pull a stunt like this… it’s like he’s working for AHF
he should be banned for life IMO
”Hell No! And if anyone uses him again they are encouraging him! He probably cost Every1 in the Biz over $100k in the last 2 wks
Mr. Marcus admits to altering his own test document, and allowing the one from TTS to be altered with his full knowledge. Any and all criminal liability should be enforced. If it’s proven that TTS altered his test, they should be shut down and never allowed to reopen in any state; criminal charges should be brought against every individual involved. There should be zero tolerance for any guilty party in this incident.
Mr. Marcus’ career should be over. He should never be hired to work on another adult production, and whomever hires him after this should be vilified by everyone in the industry. The repercussions of his actions, and those of TTS if they were also involved, as well as ATMLA and anyone else who colluded to cover this up, have served to damage the adult industry in a way that will be far reaching. Our enemies were handed the silver bullet. If there is a form of treason in this business, then this is it.
Don’t you see what’s going on here? Open your eyes… The truth is Mr. Marcus is actuality is an anti-porn SUPER activist. He’s just been deep undercover for 18 years…ya’ll should have figured out what what up when he was spotted in 2010 sitting next to Shelley Lubben at that UCLA condom discussion.
A good way to spot anti-porn SUPER activists is by looking at their aliases. They always seem use the word “Mr.” in their names… Mr. Whiteacre started the trend (he still outranks Mr. Marcus when it comes to how much he’s actually HELPED the anti-porn cause).
Keep up the good work anti-porn SUPER activists! You’ll have LA porn shut down completely by tomorrow at the pace you’re moving at now 🙂
http://store.samhsa.gov/mhlocator
Ok, so the mentally ill drunken parasite writes that the proof someone is anti-porn is that they are aligned with Shelley Lubben.
But then the mentally ill drunken parasite writes that the man who most vocally opposes Shelley Lubben (and has, in fact, decimated her credibility), yours truly, is also anti-porn.
Furthermore, the mentally ill drunken parasite writes that anti-porn folks “use the word ‘Mr.’ in their names.” Since the honorific “Mr.” is not a name, and in fact applies to all men, that would mean that all men are anti-porn.
At the very least, by that standard, Mr. Ed, Mr. Bill, and Mr. Mister would be anti-porn SUPER activists.
These statements represent examples of what is known in the world of logic and debate as IDIOCY.
Cindi, what on earth are you thinking allowing this evil lunatic to post here? Keeping this piece of shit’s name alive only hurts fans of adult entertainment, and the adult industry — including your advertisers — by validating her.
It’s your site, but if this lying, defaming, pile of human effluence is continued to promote her swill here, I won’t be back.
What does Diane know that we dont? Or does she not trust who would call. If there was a need to cover this story like a blanket I wish a major media outlet…either in print, tv, or online would do it. There is a need for some professional reporting right there in the valley…the best info is coming out of Georgia and Florida. If Gene Ross was Luke he would have been at the studio, Luke would have been there, this is one time we need the man to step off the kibbutz, put away the shawl and come back. Gene reads like he’s sitting on his ass mixing cheap vodka with OJ. Wonder if Fishbein wishes he was back at AVN to get paid off to cover this whole thing up, like the good ole days.
Despite the off the wall things that Monica Foster has said in the past, I think she is trying to be humorous and sarcastic. Even crazy people can have a sense of humor.
What does “know” mean? Does it mean “can prove in court”? Does it mean “can legally reveal”?
What the hell was that SUPER mister retard anal-ysis about? I think LIB’s secret handler, the KKK, has been spiking MoFo’s koolaid.
Btw, I too have a confession to make. I sneezed on a girl once and gave her snifflis. Anyway, I guess no one will be calling him “Mister”, any more.
You should eat more bananas. It is proven that they prevent sneezing.
Good point Mr Whiteacre Esq., its a circus.
There is no industry requirement for syphilis testing or results. How can you alter a test that is not required?
I already asked a similar question and related ones, still awaiting a response, although MW addressed part of my query on another thread
This whole admission is a bunch of weasel words amounting to “not my fault”.
If this scumbag works again they may as well roll out the red carpet for donny long.
Manwin is going to give him a job! as Vice President of Operations for Los Angeles. Watch! and Diane Dukie is going to get a Manwin position also, Disease control Manager for L.A. also.
Have we got a fake Roy now?