Derek & Romaine Humiliate Jesse Santana
I booked Jet Set Men exclusive Jesse Santana to appear for an interview on The Derek & Romaine Show earlier today. But as it turns out, the two hosts had some bug up their ass about me today and decided to take it out on Jesse by humiliating him live on the air on his birthday. As if that wasn't enough, they then decided to take calls from people who openly ridiculed him after setting up the one of the most beloved and most nominated gay porn stars of the year. Take a listen to the show and then read my open letter to Derek & Romaine below.
I hate giving them this much publicity because -- let's face it -- if I weren't doing this story, no one would even pick up on it in the gay porn journalist community.
But I can promise you, after this, I won't be mentioning either of them here ever again.
Dear Derek & Romaine,
Thanks for having Jet Set Men exclusive Jesse Santana on your show today and for having Jet Set Men exclusive Aaron James on the week prior. I made sure we issued a press release letting their fans know about your show and directing them where to tune in, as well as linking to your own official site, so as to make it as mutually beneficial as possible.
As a publicist, it is my job to book boys for interviews that I feel will promote not only their work, but the best of their personality. Aaron James and Jesse Santana, both Jet Set Men exclusives, have their work out there more than most these days -- so as their PR rep, I now am looking to book them on things that will give them an opportunity to show more about who they are behind the scenes. This takes someone from being a "star" to being a "superstar." You know that. Look at Erik Rhodes. This is someone who, when his fans think of him, they feel they "know" him very well, not just that they've seen a lot of his work.
I called Sam Lenga this week to thank her for the great show with Aaron and to also say that I so wish you guys would have taken a little more time to really talk TO him. That's why I sent bulletpoints of facts for both boys. Aaron hasn't done any real interviews since his MTV reality show, True Life, so for you guys to have first crack at asking him what that experience was like, how the show being run ad nauseum on the network has changed his life, etc. is something I thought you guys might have jumped at the opportunity to do. When you didn't and instead spent 90% of the interview playing a game with him where he got to say as much as "yes" or "no" to pick up lines for a half hour, I felt it my job, as their publicist, to ask that you please focus a little more on the star himself for the next interview, Jesse Santana, who happens to be one of the most nominated performers of the year.
I didn't rant or rail on the phone. I didn't complain that I felt we didn't get our due. And I most certainly -- under no circumstances -- ever told you how to run your show. I merely asked you to please keep the focus of the conversation on Jesse this time around and to get to know him, as he's a really great guy and one of the most popular of the year.
If I'd mentioned how you were completely unprepared, that would've been telling you how to run your show.
If I'd told you how awful it was that you got his box covers wrong and his new releases mixed up, that would've been telling you how to run your show.
If I'd said, "I book these boys with you for interviews -- not games where they get to say 'yes and no' for a half hour. That's not an interview and it's lazy." ...Yeah, that would've been telling you how to run your show.
If I'd have talked about how the 15 minutes prior to Aaron coming on were so abysmally boring I wanted to gnaw my arm off waiting for him to get on the air (listen to those 15 minutes and gnaw your own arms off here), that would've been telling you how to run your show.
In addition, I don't know what all of this "Jason was insistent" stuff is either. I was never informed that you had other plans for Jesse's interview or that you had other ideas. Sam seemed like she agreed and understood and appreciated the call. If you didn't like my suggestion, the professional thing to do would have been to come to me and explain that.
Not to put Jesse Santana on blast on the air and publically humiliate him to your many devoted listeners.
If you have a problem with me, you could have felt free to let me know.
But instead, you choose to make one of the most loved performers in the industry at the moment -- one of the sweetest, most kind and genuine guys in the business who everyone adores -- feel like a piece of shit. ... On his birthday.
Go, Derek & Romaine!
As in.... "Go away."
I feel awful for anyone who has fallen prey to the misconception that you guys are big supporters of gay porn stars and the porn industry. For you to imply as you did today that this is why you don't ask porn stars questions about "getting to know them," is to essentially say that no porn star is worth getting to know because they have nothing of intelligence to say.
Furthermore, you acted (and not for the first time, you did this during the whole GayVN Awards spiel too!) like we should be grateful to appear on your program and yet you consistently use us and our industry to better your ratings.
These were the statements that you made today that you now get to own.
And what's ironic is that I don't think you meant that at all. You were just too dim to find any better way to say what you wanted to. Making you the stupid ones. Not Jesse Santana. And you people talk ...for a living! Not Jesse.
I won't be booking any stars on your show in the future and I have quite a few emails from people who tuned in because of our announcement and press release today that say they won't be listening anymore either. I can't say as I blame them.
I may have never thought you two were all that entertaining, but I was always friendly with you both and never thought of you as unprofessional or cruel until now.
It turns out you're the ones who weren't worth getting to know.
Post Script.: The upside is, I've decided I really need to go back to doing The Jason Sechrest Show so that porn stars have a place to come have fun and promote not just their work, but themselves. After being on the web live weekly for over six years, I've taken the last six months off. But I think it's time for me to come back. I never realized how needed that outlet was for you guys until now. Stay tuned.
posted by Jason Sechrest at 11:22 PM
21 Comments:
they are so bitter about you. i dont get it. maybe they are just bitter about life. but they need to get a grip. how unprofessional.
If it were any other pR dude they wouldnt have had that reaction. They cant separate and took it as an insult when he was really just doing his job.
Derek is a lesbian and Romaine is a gay man with no dick.
It is your own fault J. Derek was mean to you when you went on that silly show years ago and he has been ever since and you still talk to them. He has this thing where he wants to be mad at you. No matter what you do it is not going to matter so leave it alone and stop talking to them. I think he does see something in you that he does not like about himself. Only thing I can come up with. I would have never even heard of them if it weren't for when you talk about them here or send out releases about people you book on their show. So stop. Let this be the last you mention them. Learn the lesson. Love you and all your sites and blogs. Just trying to help.
Jason I turned that Damn Show off after 10 minutes! D & R are Elitist Prigs Anyway!
Jesse is one of the nicest guys in porn I remember what John P at Jet Set Men said in Feb,,
"Jesse Santana is a consummate professional and an absolute joy to work with! We at Jet set always look forward to a shoot with Jesse!"
I agree Jason I would not send ANYONE to D & R the lack of professionalism was appalling.
JimVR thanks for letting me know
(and Jason)
I never listen to Derek and Romaine. I hardly ever listen to voice clips on the web. But I tell you - I was GLUED to my screen for the 18 minutes of D&R on your site.
I worked in radio for over 20 years, did all kinds of talk shows, and maybe times have changed, but listening to them was like encountering a car wreck on the expressway...you just can't look away. If D&R don't like you, fine. That's their business. But to do what they did to Jesse, and then take calls from idiot listeners who backed them up...well, it was pretty sad. Having done talk radio, I'm aware that most of the callers-in aren't always the brightest bulbs on the Xmas tree. That's the nature of the talk-show radio game. I've talked to Jesse. He's a bright guy with a warm personality and can put a sentence together. He is, rightfully so, THE bigggie in the gay porn business right now. Who the fuck were they expecting?? Charlie Gibson? If it was a set-up to make YOU look bad, it didn't work. It made THEM look bad. If they wanted to criticize Jesse for his work in gay porn, fine. But to set him up to make him look stupid...well, that was wrong. This is another example of why the gay porn business doesn't get any respect. There is no cohesive-ness. Since I've never listened to D&R previously, I have no idea if this is something they do on a regular basis. They need to aplogize to Howard, to you, and especially to Jesse.
One thing - and only ONE thing - I can say that I have to agree with them on. If an interview is scheduled for a particular time, the interviewee should be in a physical location where the interview can be done properly. In his defense,In the case of Jesse, it did not appear that he could not have done a legit interview from whatever restuaurant he was at.
Waaaaah... Derek and Romaine didn't like me...
Get over it, queen.
To Anonymous at 6:57pm. I guess you're also a listener. I'm a loyal listener of Derek & Romaine. They offended and humiliated lots of people and I felt it was funny for the past 5 years.
But in this case, it's not about whether D&R loves Jason or not. It's about professionalism. If they think Jason is being unprofessional, that's fine, it's their opinion. But to take their disgusted feeling from Jason and dump it on Jesse? This is totally un-professional.
His last quote on the show today was, If you had to interview porn stars, you'd lose your fuckin mind.
That is not someone who supports porn stars. He might be a fan but has always looked down on them. Sad.
ChiChi or John Rutherford. as a listener of Derek & Romaine, I need to apologize to you guys.
The last word, HARSH.
Wow — what a jerk Derek Hartley is!
Did you notice how Hartley grossly mispronounced "Myanmar" during his interrogation of Santana?
There's never a better time to show off your shallowness and ignorance than when you're crucifying somebody else for shallowness and ignorance.
It's "mee - ON - mar," stupid! Not "MY - anne - mar!"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?ggmyan01.wav=Myanmar
Well, I can see now why D & R want their listeners to refer to them as "Bitches" when calling into their show. Because that is the bitchiest show on radio. I tune in to them once in awhile when the Jazz Cafe and Broadway's Best start repeating their songs too often. Usually can't stand to listen more than 15 minutes before getting bored and go on to some other channel.
But, Jason, you should be glad they gave YOU 2 days of publicity instead of just a few minutes interview with Jesse.
Keep up your good work, Jason, and ignore the Bitches.
Paul
OMG!! These 2, are seriously in need of guidance. Horrible people. Totally NAILZ!!
I’m a regular listener of DnR, I can’t defend them because what they did to Jesse was terrible. If they have a problem with Jason they should have just cancelled the interview and said to Jason, “Fuck you. We make the rules for our show.” I did hear Jesse's interview and the other interview also, the one with AJ and I gotta admit I thought it was boring. The problem is that they think all pornstars are stupid. They aren’t. They’ve had some very interesting porn people on (Gus Mattox, Michael Lucas boys) but they’ve also had on some terrible ones (Bobby Williams, Roman Heart). They feel they have to fill the time with something other than the interview, in the case of AJ it was this really stupid call in segment where people lamely tried to hit on him. It was awful!! I felt horrible for Jesse and even worse for the mean spirited listeners that piled on after Jesse was done. Derek in particular seems to have a issue with attractive male pornstars. I wrote in after their most recent vacation to ask why they didn’t play better “best of” clips while they were gone, clips featuring some of the gay porn models and they said because the porn models were boring. Meanwhile they played some of the lamest clips of Penthouse playmate and Bunny ranch girls as Romaine clumsily flirted with them and they pretended to actually be into women. I’m still a fan of the show but what happened on Thursday didn’t make DnR look good. Otherwise, they have one of the best gay oriented shows in the community.
Should you guys really be worried about what Derek or Romaine think? These two are out of touch with reality. Derek is telling people he is gonna go on a date with Ronnie from Make me a Supermodel because Ronnie is "into him". Romaine thinks she is "smoking hot". The judges ruled on their divorce with reality years ago. Case closed.
Hi Guys,
I awoke this morning to having read about Jesse Santana's appearance on the Derek & Romain show via Jet Set's blog GaySexBoogie and I was quite disgusted at the co-hosts behavior.
As many of you know I never comment on such happenings and I know that I'm a newcomer in the industry as far as bloggers, columnists and such goes but I had to speak out.
Jesse has never been anything but genuine and kind to me on so many occasions and he's always made time to answer my questions and I appreciate him for that.
It's sad that these two respected radio hosts would humiliate someone in general, and let alone on their birthday.
I do not know Derek or Romaine personally but I think they owe Jesse, Jet Set Men, Fabscout Entertainment and Jason Sechrest an apology at best.
Jesse, I want you to know that you will always be welcome at Chronicles of Pornia and hope that you will not allow this incident to affect you whatsoever.
Best Regards to all,
Marc
Chronicles of Pornia
zach, what's wrong with Roman Heart?
I think my "apology" remark to ChiChi and John Rutherford seems to be overboard and me like a retard, might have to retract it.
But.
I quit. After tonight's show, I'm quitting the show for few weeks.
Jesus Christ. People are taking PORN way too seriously these days. I wish the studios would go back to the days when they didn't shove their pornstars down our throats and they were a mystery to us. I want to see Jesse Santana fuck, I want to see Roman Heart fuck, I want to see Bobby Williams fuck. I do NOT want to hear them talk about their lame-assed boyfriends, their pets or their drug useage. Any porn model who appears on a live show like this runs the risk of running into a 'shock value jock'. You should always be prepared for crap like this, have your comebacks ready, do your research and know your interviewer. Why didn't Jesse just hang up on them? It's not like they are so big and influential that it would have hurt his image or anything. I would have never stayed on the line (or in the studio) and let them berate and humiliate me like that. Guys in the porn biz, don't be a doormat for anyone!
To 2:41 - There's nothing wrong with Roman Heart, he's just not a great interview. He and Derek are actually friends and Roman has been on several times. He just has trouble holding up his end of the conversation when the topic isn't porn or having group sex on gay crusies
What D&R did was totally unprofessional. If they had a beef with you, they should have settled it off the air and with you.
They did Jesse a horrible in justice. He's a porn star, what does current events have to do with porn? NOTHING.
I could understand current event questions if they were interviewing someone like Hillary, Barrack or John.
I like both you and D&R ... hopefully you'll all be able to kiss and make up.
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