Saturday, June 26, 2010

Being Friends With Your Enemies

I found out today that Sebastian Horsley died last Wednesday. Sebastian was a tireless promoter of the sex industry. His death is not surprising, making it to 47 with a heroin habit is really quite an achievement. I first met him when we were pitched against each other for a Current TV debate called Sex and Money. Filming took a whole day and was dreadfully badly organised so we spent hours sitting around arguing between takes. After that I bumped in to him often around Soho and he even walked past Soho Comedy Club occasionally and exchanged a few words while I was waiting around outside. A couple of weeks ago a play about his life was opening at Soho Theatre where I teach stand-up and he asked me if I'd seen the posters and whether the actor playing him was better looking than him. I said "yes".

I wouldn't and couldn't defend his views on porn and prostitution or the adulation he received for them from the pimps who profit from the industry. His deliberate refusal to acknowledge and attack the human rights abuses he was well aware of being conducted by the sex trade is inexcusable. His death is excellent news for all those who support human rights but I personally am still a little saddened by it.

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