Luke Ford
Encyclopedia
Luke Ford is an American
writer
, blogger, and former pornography
gossip columnist
known for his disclosures and traditionalist Jewish religious views.
in 1977. His father, Desmond Ford
, was a noted Seventh-day Adventist
theologian, and was the center of a theological controversy
in the late 1970s and '80s. His mother, Gwen Ford, died of bone cancer in March 1970, when Ford was three years old.
After leaving the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ford explored atheism
. Ford states that he was converted through the Los Angeles Beis Din. Ford says he observes the Jewish Sabbath
, attends synagogue
regularly, and keeps kosher. He has been asked to leave at least two different congregations. Ford wrote about his religious ostracism in XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without a Shul.
Ford has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome
, which kept him bedridden for a time in his 20s.
industry, and started to write a book, which would become A History of X.
In January 1996, after researching porn for a year, Ford wrote, produced, directed and acted in What Women Want, a pornographic video (not related to the Mel Gibson
movie of the same name
). It was not a success. Ford is credited as "Dick Dundee".
In 1997, Ford started his pornography gossip website, LukeFord.com. It was criticized for being badly organized, but contained a large amount of information; Ford would take a tape recorder nearly wherever he went, and transcribed many conversations.
Ford exposed a 1998 HIV
outbreak which infected an indeterminate number of actor
s (including Tricia Devereaux
, Brooke Ashley
and Kimberly Jade) who had been working with actor Marc Wallice
. Ashley eventually sued
Wallice, claiming that she had been infected on the set of The World's Biggest Anal Gangbang.
Discretion has never been a Ford strong suit. In his own words "I'm not a businessman. I'm not a conventional journalist. I'm a story teller/entertainer/lunatic." Porn stars such as Asia Carrera
and Brandy Alexandre
have criticized errors and inaccuracy on his site. But its impact was undeniable, and he was referred to as the Matt Drudge
of porn.
Ford was sued for defamation multiple times by people in the porn industry, including by RJB Telecom, whom he (as well as the Federal Trade Commission
) accused of dishonesty; Christi Lake
, whom he mislabeled in a bestiality photo; and Laurie Holmes (widow of John Holmes), for accusations of prostitution on the set. Ford has said that he has been sued five times to date: one suit was dropped, another was thrown out, another was settled when his insurance company paid $100,000, and the last two were settled when he removed some of his statements without making a retraction. Wired magazine called him "The Most Hated Man in Web Porn". He was even physically assaulted by Mike Albo, an editor for Hustler
.
In August 2001, after urgings of his rabbi
, Ford sold his main website,
AVN Hall of Famer Bill Margold has said that "Luke Ford is exactly what we deserve... Luke's not really a blogger as much as is an Internet journalist".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, blogger, and former pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
gossip columnist
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
known for his disclosures and traditionalist Jewish religious views.
Personal
Ford moved to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1977. His father, Desmond Ford
Desmond Ford
Desmond "Des" Ford is an evangelical Christian and an Australian theologian. He is the father of pornography gossip columnist Luke Ford....
, was a noted Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
theologian, and was the center of a theological controversy
Glacier View controversy
In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Sanctuary Review Committee was a group of biblical scholars and administrators which met to decide the church's response to theologian Desmond Ford, who had challenged details of the church's "investigative judgment" teaching...
in the late 1970s and '80s. His mother, Gwen Ford, died of bone cancer in March 1970, when Ford was three years old.
After leaving the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ford explored atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. Ford states that he was converted through the Los Angeles Beis Din. Ford says he observes the Jewish Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, attends synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
regularly, and keeps kosher. He has been asked to leave at least two different congregations. Ford wrote about his religious ostracism in XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without a Shul.
Ford has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome is the most common name used to designate a significantly debilitating medical disorder or group of disorders generally defined by persistent fatigue accompanied by other specific symptoms for a minimum of six months, not due to ongoing exertion, not substantially...
, which kept him bedridden for a time in his 20s.
Professional
Ford studied economics at UCLA but did not graduate. Instead, he worked as an investigative journalist for southern California newspapers and at a radio station. In 1995, he became intrigued with the lack of journalistic coverage of the pornographyPornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
industry, and started to write a book, which would become A History of X.
In January 1996, after researching porn for a year, Ford wrote, produced, directed and acted in What Women Want, a pornographic video (not related to the Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
movie of the same name
What Women Want
What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall, a Chicago...
). It was not a success. Ford is credited as "Dick Dundee".
In 1997, Ford started his pornography gossip website, LukeFord.com. It was criticized for being badly organized, but contained a large amount of information; Ford would take a tape recorder nearly wherever he went, and transcribed many conversations.
Ford exposed a 1998 HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
outbreak which infected an indeterminate number of actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s (including Tricia Devereaux
Tricia Devereaux
Tricia Devereaux is the stage name of an American former pornographic actress.Devereaux grew up "in a small town a couple hours outside of Chicago," where she had a strict upbringing and attended a private Catholic high school.She attended college in the Midwest, got her bachelor's degree in...
, Brooke Ashley
Brooke Ashley
Brooke Ashley is the stage name of a pornographic film actress.Ashley left the industry after finding out on March 29, 1998 that she was HIV positive...
and Kimberly Jade) who had been working with actor Marc Wallice
Marc Wallice
Marc Wallice is a former American pornographic actor in adult films. He tested HIV positive in 1998 after allegedly hiding his HIV positive status for two years and infecting several women, sending shock waves throughout the porn industry. He left the industry but later returned as a director,...
. Ashley eventually sued
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
Wallice, claiming that she had been infected on the set of The World's Biggest Anal Gangbang.
Discretion has never been a Ford strong suit. In his own words "I'm not a businessman. I'm not a conventional journalist. I'm a story teller/entertainer/lunatic." Porn stars such as Asia Carrera
Asia Carrera
Asia Carrera is a former American pornographic actress.- Early life and education :Asia Carrera was born in New York City to a Japanese father and German mother, the eldest of four siblings. She was raised in Little Silver, New Jersey, attending the Little Silver School District and Red Bank...
and Brandy Alexandre
Brandy Alexandre
Brandy Alexandre is the stage name of a former American adult actress.-Career:In 1991, she produced, directed, wrote and starred in Cheeks 5: Cop A Feel. This video received a nomination for the AVN Award for Best Director...
have criticized errors and inaccuracy on his site. But its impact was undeniable, and he was referred to as the Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
of porn.
Ford was sued for defamation multiple times by people in the porn industry, including by RJB Telecom, whom he (as well as the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
) accused of dishonesty; Christi Lake
Christi Lake
Christi Lake is an American former pornographic actress. She performed in about 200 movies between 1995 and 2004, and directed at least seven....
, whom he mislabeled in a bestiality photo; and Laurie Holmes (widow of John Holmes), for accusations of prostitution on the set. Ford has said that he has been sued five times to date: one suit was dropped, another was thrown out, another was settled when his insurance company paid $100,000, and the last two were settled when he removed some of his statements without making a retraction. Wired magazine called him "The Most Hated Man in Web Porn". He was even physically assaulted by Mike Albo, an editor for Hustler
Hustler
Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...
.
In August 2001, after urgings of his rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, Ford sold his main website,
lukeford.com to Netvideogirls.com for $25,000, and created lukeford.net, which avoided pornography, and focused more on Jewish issues. One year later, after nearly going broke, he returned to his pornographic roots by starting lukeisback.com with many of his old archives. On 23 October 2007, Ford announced he had sold lukeisback.com and its contents for an undisclosed sum to an undisclosed party. "Any writing I do on the porn industry from now on will be for publications with no porn advertising," Ford said. Those owners (whose names have not been divulged) ran the site until June 2008 but walked away from the site saying that writing the site was too much work for the money earned. It was sold a second time, with the new owner being long-time industry observer Cindy Loftus.AVN Hall of Famer Bill Margold has said that "Luke Ford is exactly what we deserve... Luke's not really a blogger as much as is an Internet journalist".
Websites run by Ford
- Official website, without pornographic content
- Autobiography at official website
- Luke Is Back! Porn News 2002-2007
- Your Moral Leader blog about Judaism and moral issues
- Nearer My God To Thee Buzznet site with many photos
- MySpace site Used for personal and social activities
Other
- Luke's weekly report on Booble Nation (site where Luke Ford used to contribute)
- Emmanuelle Richard, "Luke Ford: Another Brash Web Columnist", Online Journalism Review, 9 July 1997
- Nancy Beiles, "Porn Muckraker and Son of a Preacher Man: Luke Ford Holds Forth on Converting, Dennis Prager and the Trials of the Triple-X Industry", The ForwardThe ForwardThe Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
, 7 January 2000 - Noah Shachtman, "Porn Stripped of Gossip Maven", Wired magazine, 13 August 2001
- Dan Kapelovitz, "LA People 2006: The Xxxorcist", LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
, 19 April 2006 - Brad A. Greenberg, "Interview with a serial blogger", JewishJournal.com, 3 August 2007 - Appearances in What Women Want and pornography documentaries