John Stagliano (born November 29, 1951), also known as Buttman, is an American entrepreneur, former pornographic film actor, producer and director who founded and owns the Evil Angel pornographic film studio.

<span lang="en">Early</span> life and career

Stagliano grew up in the Chicago suburbs, He enrolled in college, but dropped out in 1969 for several semesters. ancestry with some of his grandparents from Florence.

In the 1970s, he wrote erotic fiction for a small newspaper, and did some softcore modeling. He performed with the group four or five nights a week for the next four years. In 1989, he started Evil Angel to sell his own films. The origin of the company's name dates back to when Stagliano was working as a stripper. "There was another guy in one of my shows named John. So this MC started calling me Evil John to differentiate us. This was when I was doing Dracula and chains. At the same time I had a girlfriend who called herself Angel when she did strip shows. She was a very nasty girl and I suggested that she call herself Evil Angel. She didn't, but I loved the name and wound up using it for my company."

The Adventures of Buttman

In 1989, he produced The Adventures of Buttman, the first in a popular series which is credited with sparking the "gonzo" adult film genre. These films involved highlighting the female buttocks, Early Stagliano productions had little to no anal sex in them and were critically acclaimed for the showcasing of his buttocks fetish. Later Buttman films included numerous anal sex scenes, often featuring Stagliano himself. In the 1990s, Stagliano became one of the most successful figures in American pornographic films.

Stagliano was described by U.S. News & World Report magazine in 1998 as "the nation's leading director of hard-core videos".

He has directed series including Buttman at Nudes a Poppin, Buttman Goes to Rio, Buttman's Anal Divas, Buttman's Anal Show, Buttman's Bend Over Babes, Buttman's Bend Over Brazilian Babes, Buttman's Big Butt Backdoor Babes, Buttman's Big Tit Adventure, Buttman's Butt Freak, Buttman's European Vacation, Buttman's Favorite Big Butt Babes, Face Dance and Fashionistas, as well as numerous one-off films. Stagliano also served as mentor, producer, and co-director to Tristan Taormino in her video version of The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women.

Fashionistas

From October 2004 through February 2008, Stagliano produced and directed a Las Vegas show called Fashionistas based on his porn film of the same name. In 2008, he won the 'Best Director – Video' award for Fashionistas Safado: Berlin. ("Safado" is a Portuguese word meaning lewd or salacious.)

Obscenity trial

On April 8, 2008, Evil Angel and Stagliano were indicted on federal obscenity charges by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. The scenes selected by the government to support the prosecution involved urination, use of enemas, and bondage. Judge Richard J. Leon stated, "I hope the government will learn a lesson from its experience," and called the evidence linking Stagliano to the production and distribution of the DVD videos "woefully insufficient". Although he dismissed the charges on the grounds of insufficient evidence, the judge cited the "difficult, challenging and novel questions" raised in the case against Stagliano, questions concerning extant federal obscenity-statutes, the Internet, free speech, and the rights of criminal defendants. He stated that he hoped "[higher] courts and Congress will give greater guidance to judges in whose courtrooms these cases will be tried."

In a press interview, Stagliano's wife Karen disputes the allegations: "John and the company feel that he did not do anything with Katie Summers that would warrant having to inform her of his HIV status," Karen said "He had no genital contact with her, no sexual touching of her genitals at all that would have put her at any sort of a medical risk whatsoever."

The suit against Stagliano went into forced arbitration and the plaintiff had her deposition taken, but on September 29, 2014 Summers dropped her lawsuit. According to Stagliano's attorney, Paul Cambria, "[Summers] had no case. I took her testimony and when I was done I could not see any possible way for her to succeed."

Scene with Ginger Banks and Jenny Blighe

In 2018, Stagliano directed an Evil Angel scene between Ginger Banks and Jenny Blighe. It was both performers' first scene, after working as webcam models, and they were told the scene would only the involve the two women, not any men. According to Banks and Blighe, Stagliano touched their buttocks without their consent during the filming, in character as Buttman. Stagliano said the pair had been asked to watch a previous scene in which he did a similar thing; Banks and Blighe said that they had concerns after watching the scene, but the production told Banks that Stagliano would not perform as Buttman. Banks later filed a report of sexual battery against Stagliano and apologized to Blighe both privately and publicly, saying in 2020, "I should be held accountable for my part in the gaslighting and denying her reality". She said that Stagliano mocked her over the incident afterwards, and that she was told by others of similar incidents to her and Blighe's account.

Critical appraisal

In her essay Crackers and Whackers: The White Trash of Porn, Constance Penley asserts that John Stagliano did for anal fetishism what Woody Allen did for neurosis, pointing out that, "as in so many stag films", Buttman is the "butt of the joke" since, "seeking the perfect shot of a woman's perfect ass", the character "gets mugged, evicted, bankrupted, rejected, and ridiculed – all in his single-minded quest for perfection".

Awards and nominations

  • 1998 Hot d'Or d'Honneur winner
  • 2003 Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival's Lifetime Career Award
  • 2009 Hot d'Or Award winner of Best American Director award for Fashionistas Safado Berlin (for Evil Angel/Marc Dorcel productions)
  • 2010 XBIZ winner of Industry Pioneer award
  • 2013 XBIZ nominated for the Director of the Year award for Voracious
  • Porn Block of Fame

Personal life

Stagliano was in a relationship with pornographic actress Krysti Lynn (A.K.A Shawna Yager) during 1993. She was driving Stagliano's Acura Legend when she died on December 7, 1995, in an accident in Calabasas.

In 1997, Stagliano tested positive for HIV. As of 2002, medication has kept the virus in check.

Other uses of "Buttman"

  • German deathgrind band Cock and Ball Torture made a tribute song titled "Buttman Goes to Rio".
  • The nickname Buttman has been used in parodies of Batman, notably the segment of the same name by the Annoying Orange.
  • Argentinian sex shop used Buttman as its business name.

References

  • evilangel.com
  • Buttman interview from Las Vegas