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“Design Star” Mikey Verdugo Suspended from Police Force
July 18, 2008 | 13 Comments
Reality Goes Erotic: Last Friday we picked up a story — first revealed by GayPornBlog and on the ATKOL forums — that Mikey Verdugo, a contestant on HGTV‘s Design Star, had filmed a gay bondage flick in 1996 titled ROPE RITUALS (click here and here for our two stories). There have been five or six reality-TV contestants with erotic work on their resumes just this year alone, and when we wrote about them here, no one really complained. But our story on Mr. Verdugo brought an unusual amount of hate mail, even though a poll on the topic (click here) ran the other direction. There has been a twist in the story. Mr. Verdugo, 34, has been suspended from his job as a police officer in Hollywood, Florida. “Verdugo has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of a fact-finding Internal Affairs investigation,” a spokesperson for the department told the Miami Herald (click here). A producer for ROPE RITUALS, Christopher O’Neal, was contacted by the paper, and disputes that it was Mr. Verdugo in the movie, despite the strong facial resemblance and matching tattoos. Click here for more details…
Verdugo has not been accused of any wrongdoing and “has done nothing to bring disgrace to himself or the police department,” says his lawyer, Alberto Milian. “My client is a distinguished member of the law enforcement community for over 10 years. My client has done absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing unethical. Nothing to bring discredit upon his police department.”
He joined the Hollywood, Florida police department in 2001, five years after ROPE RITUALS was filmed. Although broadcast edits of Design Star did not show Mr. Verdugo speaking about his sexuality, he was out to his coworkers and associates. His lawyer feels he is being “unfairly scrutinized” for being gay. As yet, he has declined to comment publicly.
Mr. O’Neal claims the ROPE RITUALS actor — billed onscreen as “Jeremy Wess” — showed him a driver’s license that was not from Florida and had another name, not Verdugo’s. The paper notes Mr. O’Neal has declined to offer any other information, citing a confidentiality agreement.
“I feel badly about the possibility of him being fired…(t)his whole affair has my stomach tied up in knots,” GayPornBlog editor Jack Shamama told TheSword today. He says the site acted on an anonymous tip that Mr. Verdugo was the actor in ROPE RITUALS. However, acting in an adult film “isn’t a crime and isn’t something to be ashamed about.” Further, “We didn’t out a random police officer, we reported on someone who was entering the public arena through a reality television show.”
TheSword disputes Christopher O’Neal’s claims that Mr. Verdugo has been misidentified, citing unnamed “sources within the industry” who verify he did appear in the movie, and that “at least one studio has expressed interest in signing Verdugo for more films.”
Gossipmeister Perez Hilton has picked up on the story (click here) as well.
[Promo image © HGTV.]
Comments
13 Comments so far
Jeez, first he gets eliminated from the show, then he gets suspended from the force. It’s almost like they’re FORCING him to go back to porn. . .(was that a subtle enough hint, Mikey?)
And the cannibalization is nearly complete… It’s public information, and we all know one doesn’t have to have any scruples to tell the truth given the “right” motivation. Whoever thought this would help his career is kind of goofy.
Whether it was Mikey Verdugo or not 12 years ago does it really matter? I am afraid I believe that when people complain, they themselves have got something far worse to hide. MV should speak up for himself otherwise he will be branded!
Whether it was Mikey Verdugo or not 12 years ago does it really matter? I am afraid I believe that when people complain, they themselves have got something far worse to hide. MV should speak up for himself otherwise he will be branded!
Frankly if he gets fired I hope he sues the ass off the department, the film was well before he joined the department and he apparantly has a very good record, so the film shouldnt make any difference. Plus as an out officer he should get our support!
Agree 100% with iain. I think this is blatant discrimination against Verdugo, and the police department should be condemned for taking any kind of action against him.
Would he have a contract with the Florida police department when he started? If there was no mention of being gay surely he can sue. What in the hell is his private life to do with his job!
Would he have a contract with the Florida police department when he started? If there was no mention of being gay surely he can sue. What in the hell is his private life to do with his job!
Not necessarily. Often police officers sign a proper conduct clause as a part of their contractual agreement, and activities deemed inconsistent with it that occurred in the past, present, or future may be used as legitimate grounds for termination.
And sure…in a possible world, this wouldn’t matter, and is “discrimination”. If he’d done straight bondo porn, perhaps this wouldn’t be problematic; or just straight porn. But we don’t live in that world, and the consequences of living in this one do put ethical constraints on people…like broadcasting sensitive information of this kind to everyone…because, I dunno…they’re REAL.
Folks we are talking about a FLORIDA Police Dept in the STATE of Florida!
Scan any week of the Drudge Report…
Most of the Wacky News involving Clueless,ignorant and just plain bigoted public officials and govt bureaucrats comes from FLORIDA.
We Californians used to have most of the “Strange but True Life” story’s, now except for occasional dribbles from Lou Sheldon in Orange County and some Rt Wing nuts in Fresno almost all the insanity has shifted to Florida.
This is not a slam of Floridians I have some good friends and in-laws there!
Just the Whack jobs running the place!
I would add Mikey should move to San Diego the SDPD would welcome him with open arms!
Damn, he’s a hot fucker…. What’s the latest news? Did he get his job back? I agree that this only makes him more popular now in the gay circles (except for the Mary’s who clutch their pearls in horror).
[...] II: Rope Rituals producer Christopher O’Neal denies that Mikey V and the bondage star are the same person. He told the Miami Herald that the porn actor who used the stage name Jeremy Wess presented photo [...]