Was Michael Lucas "snubbed" by Grabbys—again?

Photo: MenMachine.com

Michael Lucas just can't catch a break with the Grabby Awards. For what seems like the umpteenth consecutive year, the New York-based auteur's studio, Lucas Entertainment, was excluded from nearly every single category of the award nominees, which were announced yesterday. The only award Lucas is up for is for the Maleflixxx People's Choice Award, which the awards show has little control over. To add insult to injury, some of Lucas' most noted enemies wracked up multiple nominations: Raging Stallion's To the Last Man, the big winner at this past March's GayVN Awards, snagged 10 nominations, including Best Director(s), Best Threeway, Best Actor (Ricky Sinz), Best Supporting Actor (Scott Tanner), Best Videography and Best Movie, while controversial performer Brent Corrigan scored nods for Best Supporting Actor (The Porne Ultimatum), Best Twink Video (Brent Corrigan's Summit), Best Porn Star Blog, Best Pornstar Website and Best Performer.

It seems like an egregious snub to omit Lucas (who produced the award-worthy Return to Fire Island last year) from the list of nominees yet again, but then again, maybe not. Read all about it after the jump.

Lucas tells Unzipped that he is no longer submitting his films for Grabby consideration because he got tired of hearing the show's producers claim that they don't receive his screeners in time. Many have speculated that the Grabbys exclude Lucas from the nominees because of a 2003 onstage rant he made against Grabby Awards owners Gay Chicago Magazine for honoring controversial porn agent (and former inmate) David Forest with a Best Non-Sex Performance award. (Lucas, of course, thinks Forest is a bad seed in the industry, and says that everyone should shun him accordingly. If this sounds like déja vu, it's because Lucas did something similar at this year's GayVN Awards. For more on the history between Lucas and the Grabbys, read this.)

Lucas backs this story up. "After I went onstage and spoke out against nominating a person who is pimping, pandering and actively getting models addicted to drugs, the organizers of the Grabbys told me flat out that I'm never welcome again and that I'd never be nominated again," Lucas tells Unzipped. "So far, they've been true to their word. They lied that I didn't send them Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita, which by the way, is a ludicrous lie. Let's suspend reality and imagine they didn't get the film. Do you think they couldn't rent it? Nonetheless I did send it. They did get it. I think it was all very clear."

Gay Chicago's editor, Mark Nagle is matter-of-fact about the issue. "Lucas Entertainment does not submit movies to us, so it just means we do not review his movies; nothing more, nothing less. This year's list of nominations, I think, is one of the most well rounded. The problem is is that we only nominate between six to eight in each category so someone will be left out. There are so many good performances but we just try and do our best!"

Nagle doesn't address the fact that Lucas' films are so widespread and well-known that copies would be extremely easy to come by even if Lucas doesn't submit them (ever heard of WantedList.com, guys?)—or that the Grabby Awards shares voters with the GayVN Awards (where Lucas' movies are routinely nominated), but OK.

For his part, Lucas makes it clear that he's not spending any time stressing over the snub. "Let me tell you that I don't need the nominations and I definitely don't need the awards. I am my own boss and I'm a very savvy business man and an independent person. I've never been intimidated by anyone. They simply do not matter. The industry's silence on this did shock me a little in the beginning. I mean, there were no protests at all against such an injustice. Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is the best video that's ever been produced, and I firmly believe that. The caliber of that film has not been even approached on and it didn't get one nomination and nobody spoke out against it. There is no sense of bitterness, it was extremely successful and continues to be so still. It doesn't surprise me any longer. I've been in the industry for a long time and do not count on anyone's support."

We're not sure exactly what the real story is here, but we decided to ask David Forest what he thought of the whole situation. His response? "Michael Lucas is a worthless piece of shit."

Well, alrighty then!

So what about about the other nominees, you ask? Well, we sure were happy to see Joe Gage's Home Invastion get some love from the Grabbys. The "erotic thriller" was nominated for Best Actor (Tony Buff), Best Supporting Actor (Tyler Saint) and Best Movie, among others, though we were surprised Gage himself wasn't nominated for Best Direction. Oh well, at least the Grabbys have the sense to keep their categories short. Really, six nominees in each category is more than enough, so let's hope the GayVNs follow suit next year.