A “sex marathon” to help pay for a porn star’s breast implant surgery went ahead in Gatineau, Quebec Friday evening, despite opposition from the city, mayor and police.
The event took place in a private apartment over Bar 77, a licensed strip club on Main Street. Zoé Zebra, 22, had agreed to have sex with 25 men in one night — and film it — to help fund her surgery.
“I’m just very happy because I have met my goals and I can go do my implants,” Zebra told the Citizen on Sunday, adding her surgery is yet to be scheduled.
She was unconcerned about comments from Gatineau’s mayor, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, who had told Le Droit the event was “shameful” and the city was trying to stop it.
Police said they didn’t receive any calls about the event.
The marathon, organized by Zebra’s porn company, AD4X, was originally to take place in an RV in the parking lot behind the club. After the police and city objected, club owner Larry Lepine said he changed the venue to an apartment above the bar at his lawyer’s suggestion.
The city was trying to “use a bunch of regulations” to stop the event from happening, he said.
According to city bylaws, businesses that “exploit the nude body” — including strip clubs and porn film shoots, must be in a commercial “C-06-102″ zone. Bar 77 isn’t, because it’s located next to a residential neighbourhood. It holds a special permit to operate a strip club within the residential zone, but the city said a sex marathon and porn shoot are different.
Although the bar is a full-contact strip club, sex between patrons and clients for a commercial purpose — in this case, to make a pornographic film — would not be permitted under the zoning bylaws, according to a City of Gatineau spokesman.
Legal expert Suzanne Bouclin, who teaches at the University of Ottawa, said the event was organized in a way that cleverly avoided legal issues.
Zebra’s suitors were to pay a $15 cover charge but the money wasn’t connected to any sexual services. Inside the venue, Zebra got to pick what she did and who she did it with.
Porn company AD4X planned to capture those moments on camera and later provide Zebra with a cheque to cover the cost of her breast implants. At no point was there to be any transaction between Zebra and the men for sexual services.
“There is no exchange of money for sex in that scenario. That’s how they’re getting around it — that’s what’s interesting about it,” said Bouclin. “The actual exchange for sexual service is free.”
Zebra said what she did is “not illegal,” and she has no worries about any legal repercussion.
André de la Seine, a promoter with AD4X, said it doesn’t matter whether people dislike what is going on. “We’re abiding by provincial and federal laws,” he told the Citizen in the wake of the Gatineau mayor’s comments.
Small nitpicking details dammit