Annie Sprinkle

Seka starred in over 200 adult films and owned 7 sex shops before she ever filmed a single scene - watched the films she was selling and decided she could do it better. Worked with John Holmes. Dated Sam Kinison. Quit when producers wouldn't pay her rate. Then the AIDS epidemic hit and producers still weren't taking precautions. She walked away for good rather than die for people who didn't care if she lived. Then a TV host told his audience he didn't understand how someone like her could be insulted. She'd already left by the time he said it. In the video below, the full exchange plays out - and it's one of the most uncomfortable moments in American television history. She came on as a legitimate businesswoman. The host ignored all of it. He pushed her on the Meese Commission report - the Reagan-era study claiming 90% of hard p*rn distribution was mob-controlled. She pushed back. Pointed out the only two dissenters were women. Said if adult content promotes antisocial behavior then so does Rambo. The host didn't want a debate. He wanted a target. She got up and left. He came back from commercial, looked at her empty chair and told the audience he didn't know how someone who had done what she'd done could be insulted by anything. The audience groaned. A woman who built a million-dollar empire, quit when the money wasn't right and walked away when her life was on the line - dismissed on national television in thirty seconds. Was the host voicing what most of America was thinking in 1987, or just proving that success means nothing if the room has already decided what you are?