Faked Gay Porn Used to Blackmail Serbian War Criminal?

August 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I was scanning the gossip blogs the other day and came across a disconcerting mention of gay porn in an unexpected context. If you follow the news, you’re likely aware of the recent arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader who had been underground since 1997, and is currently on trial for genocide at The Hague. Mr. Karadzic has allegedly claimed he was told he would not face charges if he disappeared and “pointed a finger at Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who helped broker peace under the Clinton administration.” Mr. Holbrooke has repeatedly denied that assertion. Nevertheless, “conspiracy theories abound that the CIA spoke with Karadzic directly before his arrest to ensure his silence.” Here’s where gay porn enters the picture. The claim is that Karadzicwas offered the option of “a 40-year sentence in a luxury Swedish prison” in exchange for cooperation; otherwise, “he would be completely compromised in the Serbian public when they published edited homosexual porn footage,” among other tortures. “That seems a bit far-fetched,” Queerty snarks. “We know the CIA’s hardcore and all, but how many agents can stomach editing Karadzic into a skin flick. They’d need robots for such an endeavor.” It is troubling to realize that Karadzic’s supporters would be incensed over his alleged appearance in gay porn films, rather than by his participation in the ethnic cleansing of his country, and that an effective means of emasculation would be to fake such a film and release it. Who knows if there is any truth to the report, and I am certainly not naive about the perceived status of gay men in other less enlightened cultures around the world. But it is a bizarre story nonetheless. [H/T Queerty + Serbian Press Online; image ¬©> AVN.]