Billy Santoro

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Billy Santoro
Born
Bill Gray[1]

1975 or 1976 (age 47–48)[2]
Alma materUniversity of Pittsburgh
OccupationPornographic film actor
Years active2013–present

Bill Gray, known professionally as Billy Santoro, is an American gay pornographic actor. He first began performing in gay pornographic films in 2013 as an exclusive model for Men.com, and appeared in Lucas Entertainment's first-ever bareback film alongside his then-boyfriend Seth Santoro later that year. He became a popular performer in the mid-2010s and appeared in over 200 gay pornographic films by 2017. He later became known for his controversies, including his tweets advocating for the shooting of Black people during the George Floyd protests in 2020.

Career[edit]

Santoro began performing in pornographic films at age 38 and initially intended to only perform for one year. In June 2013, he signed an exclusive contract with Men.com for six months, for whom he made his debut appearance in Boy Ranch Part 1 in July 2013.[3][2][4] In September 2013, he starred in the first bareback film for gay pornographic film studio Lucas Entertainment, which had previously exclusively made films with condoms and had spoken out against bareback films, with his then-boyfriend Seth Treston.[5] He won the Grabby Award for Best Performer - Web in May 2014.[6] By that year, he had performed in films for the pornographic studios MenAtPlay, Hot House, and ChaosMen.[7] He released a 2015 calendar featuring photos of him, titled Hot Outside, in November 2014.[8] By 2015, Santoro had performed in around 40 gay pornographic videos, including several for Kink.com.[1] By April 2016, he began working on Leaked and Loaded, his website for homemade pornographic films.[9] In 2017, he had appeared in over 200 pornographic scenes.[10] He became a board member for the Adult Performance Artists Guild in April 2018 but resigned later that month, claiming that the organization did not protect pornographic film actors, specifically those who were HIV-positive.[11]

Personal life and public image[edit]

Santoro has stated that, prior to performing in pornographic films, he received a degree in business from the University of Pittsburgh.[12] He was a one-time resident of Washington, D.C., where he was a bartender and the general manager of the EFN Lounge and Motley Bar.[13] One year before becoming a pornographic actor, Santoro started dating fellow gay pornographic actor Seth Santoro, who previously went by the name Seth Treston, and the two later got married in 2013.[14][15] The two divorced in 2017 and Seth alleged later that year on social media that Billy had been physically abusive toward him.[16][17] In 2014, Str8UpGayPorn called Santoro "one of today's most in-demand, mainstream gay porn stars".[2] Garridan P. Faxton of Fleshbot called Santoro "the hardest-working man in skin-business" in 2015 for his consistent appearances in new pornographic films.[18] AVN called him one of "the industry's hottest performers" in 2017.[10]

PassTheTea.com described Santoro as "a bit of a controversial figure in porn" and "a polarizing figure" in 2016.[19] Santoro tweeted in March 2019 that he would not film pornographic videos with "someone [he had] filmed with in the past" who had "gotten fat" and that he was "not a fan of looking at [their] fat body rolling around all over Twitter", which his Twitter followers criticized as fatphobic.[20] He called detractors of the tweet "snowflakes".[21] Until 2020, Santoro and his husband Gage Santoro filmed pornographic videos for their OnlyFans accounts at their apartment on Oxford Street in Sydney, Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the police were called on them by neighbors at least three times for failing to social distance.[22] The strata committee of their building unanimously voted to evict them in December 2020 for breaking a noise regulation by-law.[23]

Racist tweets and faked suicide attempt[edit]

In response to the George Floyd protests, Santoro made a post on his Facebook account in June 2020 in which he wrote that "America ... let [its] blacks loot as a way of protest" and encouraged police officers to "shoot first".[24] The post led to social media backlash against Santoro, who claimed in response to it that he had "lashed out full of emotional stress" due to the killing of his friend during looting in Philadelphia.[25] Social media users then circulated other posts by Santoro, one in which he claimed that he had not experienced gay bashing from any "white, redneck Trump supporter" but had from "African American men who live in Shaw in DC", and another in which he responded to a restaurant's pro-Black Lives Matter tweet about being able to replace their property if it was destroyed during protests by tweeting that "the blacks will just breed more hatred towards them". Santoro's posts were widely criticized by social media users—including fellow gay pornographic actor Austin Wolf—as racist and his pornographic account on the subscription-based platform JustForFans was soon taken down by the company, who tweeted that what he wrote was "vile".[26] His OnlyFans account was also deleted and he deleted his personal Twitter account.[27] He then created a new joint Twitter account with his husband, gay pornographic actor Gage, who posted photos of Santoro sitting in a hospital bed and claimed that he had attempted suicide over the backlash.

Later that month, he variously claimed that JustForFans, gay sex toy company Fort Troff, gay pornographic studio Dominic Ford, and underwear company JJ Malibu were all continuing to support and affiliate themselves with him, to which they each responded on Twitter and stated that they had cut ties with him.[28] In October 2020, Santoro posted a video on Twitter, claiming that his posts had been made under the influence of meth.[29] Santoro admitted in December of that year that he had not actually attempted suicide and that he had actually been in the hospital to get an ingrown hair removed.[30] In December 2020, Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Santoro and his husband "had gained international notoriety due to racist social comments they blamed on a meth addiction".[23]

Awards and nominations[edit]

List of awards and nominations, with award, year, category, nominated work, result, and reference shown
Award Year Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Cybersocket Web Awards 2014 Best Porn Star Himself Nominated [31]
2015 Nominated [32]
2016 Nominated [33]
Best Sex Scene So You Think You Can Fuck Season 5, Round 2 Nominated
2017 Best Porn Star Himself Nominated [34]
Best Personality Leaked and Loaded Nominated
2018 Best Porn Star Himself Nominated [35]
2019 JustFor.fans Model of the Year Himself Nominated [36]
Grabby Awards 2014 Best Newcomer Himself Nominated [37]
Manly Man Nominated
Web Performer of the Year Won [38]
2015 Performer of the Year Nominated [39]
Web Performer of the Year Won [40]
2016 Best Versatile Performer Nominated [41]
Best Group So You Think You Can Fuck Season 5, Episode 9 Nominated
Tahoe-Keep Me Warm Nominated
Best Duo An Offer He Can't Refuse Nominated
Performer of the Year Himself Nominated
Hottest Flip Runaway 3 Nominated
Hottest Rimming Forgive Me Father 2 Nominated
Web Performer of the Year Himself Nominated
2017 Best Versatile Performer Nominated [42]
Best Group Brandon Wilde's First Gang Bang Nominated
Performer of the Year Himself Nominated
Hottest Rimming Silhouette Nominated
Hottest Flip Nominated
2019 Best Versatile Performer Himself Nominated [43]
GayVN Awards 2018 Favorite Daddy Nominated [44]
Social Media Star Nominated
XBIZ Awards 2015 Gay Performer of the Year Nominated [45]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Washington, Cornelius (September 23, 2015). "Billy Santoro". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Billy Santoro Exclusive: What He Really Thinks Of Michael Lucas, Mike Dozer, Truvada®, And More!". Str8UpGayPorn. May 14, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  3. ^ "Billy Santoro Signs Exclusive Contract with MEN.COM and Johnny Rapid Is Searching For New Male Muscular Super Stars". Queer Me Now. June 26, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  4. ^ "Billy Santoro Fucks Felix Warner in Boy Ranch Part 1". Queer Me Now. July 12, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  5. ^ "Michael Lucas Breaks Vow, Releases First Bareback Sex Scene". Queerty. September 17, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  6. ^ Street, Sharan (May 26, 2014). "2014 Grabby Awards Winners Announced AVN". AVN. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  7. ^ Noshibi-Riffin, Yew. "28 Gay Archetypes & the Porn Stars Who Personify Them". Cybersocket. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "Billy Santoro Offers 'Hot Outside' Calendar for 2015". XBIZ. November 20, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  9. ^ Tonic, Mars (April 2016). "Billy Santoro, Fast Porn Nation". GayCalgary. p. 46.
  10. ^ a b "Billy Santoro, Josh Moore Having Sex for 1st Time on CAM4". AVN. May 22, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  11. ^ Villareal, Daniel (April 25, 2018). "This Porn Union Called Truvada a 'Party Drug,' and Several Gay Adult Film Stars Have Had It". Hornet Networks. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  12. ^ "Pass The Tea, Billy Santoro!". PassTheTea. April 17, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  13. ^ Marr, Rhuaridh (December 9, 2020). "Gay adult performer Billy Santoro admits he faked a suicide attempt after backlash for racist posts". Metro Weekly. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  14. ^ McCann, Steve (January 15, 2015). "I Married a Porn Star". PhillyGayCalendar. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  15. ^ "Billy Santoro and Seth Treston Tie The Knot". Queer Me Now. September 4, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  16. ^ "Seth Santoro's Career Blossoms After Dumping Billy Santoro". GayDemon. November 8, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  17. ^ "Seth Santoro Accuses Billy Santoro Of Violent Assault: 'He Punched Me In The Face Repeatedly'". Str8UpGayPorn. July 22, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  18. ^ Faxton, Garridan P. (July 31, 2015). "Billy Santoro Has Had The Busiest Week Ever". Fleshbot. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  19. ^ Dårlig Ulv, Tyler (April 17, 2016). "Billy Santoro is Getting Tea EVERYWHERE". Manhunt Daily. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  20. ^ Villarreal, Daniel (March 29, 2019). "Gay adult star Billy Santoro blasted for mocking fat performers". Queerty. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  21. ^ Shea, Ryan (March 29, 2019). "Billy Santoro Slammed for Fat Comment". Instinct. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  22. ^ Smith, Reiss (December 4, 2020). "Disgraced gay porn star dropped over vile racist rants evicted from home over loud 'meet and greets'". PinkNews. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  23. ^ a b Brook, Stephen; Hutchinson, Samantha (December 3, 2020). "A not-so happy ending from Monument for porn-star pair". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  24. ^ Artavia, David (June 5, 2020). "Austin Wolf on Porn, Racism, and His Own Questionable Twitter Exchange". The Advocate. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  25. ^ Smith, Reiss (June 3, 2020). "'Racist' gay porn star calls for cops to shoot Black protesters as Black Lives Matter rises up against police brutality". PinkNews. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  26. ^ "'Just For Fans' Dumps Adult Performer Billy Santoro For Urging Police To Shoot Black Looters". Towleroad. June 2, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  27. ^ "Billy Santoro Is Canceled Again". Instinct. June 2, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  28. ^ "Here Goes Billy Santoro Again". Instinct. June 10, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  29. ^ Reddish, David (November 12, 2020). "Billy Santoro blames meth for racist diatribes". Queerty. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  30. ^ Reddish, David (December 7, 2020). "Disgraced adult performer Billy Santoro admits faking suicide attempt to deflect criticism". Queerty. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  31. ^ "Voting for The Cybersocket Web Awards 2014 Has Begun". Queer Me Now. September 11, 2013. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  32. ^ "Here Are The Nominees For The 15th Annual Cybersocket Awards". Str8UpGayPorn. October 9, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  33. ^ Pardon, Rhett (October 12, 2015). "Nominations for 16th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards Announced". XBIZ. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  34. ^ Rock Bottom, Randy (September 28, 2016). "Nominees for 17th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards Announced". JRL Charts. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  35. ^ "Cybersocket Web Awards 2018 Nominations Are Live". Queer Me Now. October 1, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  36. ^ Adams, JC (November 13, 2019). "20th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards Nominees Announced". XBIZ. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  37. ^ "The GRABBYS 2014 Nominations Have Been Announced". Queer Me Now. March 5, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  38. ^ Street, Sharan (May 26, 2014). "2014 Grabby Awards Winners Announced". AVN. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  39. ^ "Grabbys Awards: 2015 Nominations". Queer Me Now. March 16, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  40. ^ Street, Sharan (May 25, 2015). "2015 Grabby Award Winners Announced". AVN. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  41. ^ "2016 Grabby Award Nominees Announced". AVN. March 16, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  42. ^ "The 2017 GRABBY Nominations Have Been Announced & Many BAREBACK Porn Studios Are Nominated!". Queer Me Now. March 15, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  43. ^ Roland, John (March 15, 2019). "2019 Grabby Awards Nominees Announced AVN". AVN. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  44. ^ Street, Sharan (November 22, 2017). "AVN Media Network Announces the 2018 GayVN Awards Nominees". AVN. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  45. ^ "Here Are The 2015 XBIZ Awards Nominations". Str8UpGayPorn. November 12, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
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