TEL AVIV, Israel — Last Friday one of Israel’s leading newspapers, Tel Aviv’s Haaretz, published one of a comprehensive interview with Greg Lansky.
The high-profile CEO behind the Vixen, Blacked and Tushy brands, spoke with the Israeli publication candidly about several topics in a sprawling piece by Tzach Yoked headlined “Artful Porn and anti-Semitic Threats: The Man Behind the 'HBO of Adult Films' Bares All.”
The article delves into Lansky’s childhood and his background. It describes him as growing up in Paris, “the son of a Jewish father of Algerian descent and a Christian mother." The Ashkenazi "Lansky" is an adopted surname.
“I did the whole Jewish thing,” he told Haaretz. “I fasted on Yom Kippur, went to the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and had my bar mitzvah. But even though I felt Jewish, I was never fully accepted as a Jew. I was stuck between two worlds: on the one hand, I suffered when skinheads provoked me, and on the other hand, the Jewish establishment explained to me I’m not Jewish, because my mother isn’t a Jew.”
The article includes a photo of Lansky as a child with his father at the Western Wall.
“Still,” Yoked writes, “Lansky emphasizes that he sees himself as a proud Jew — one reason being, perhaps, that he is often reminded of his identity in anti-Semitic emails and online comments.”
“I would say that almost all the threats I get are directed toward the fact that I’m, like, 'Jew this, Jew that' — it’s all about this Jewishness,” Lansky told the journalist. “They pinned negative stereotypes on me; said I was a Jew who got into the porn industry to pervert society. Some people came up with conspiracy theories about Jews trying to take over the industry. I get emails calling me obscene names. You could say I was getting the stick from both ends, but it doesn’t bother me. I’ve learned to love my life without fear.”
“As a kid I always wanted to be loved, to be accepted, to feel I belonged. So now, when I look at the adult [film] industry and the people in it, who are not accepted by society — I’ve taken on this effort because I feel like I belong in this fight for acceptance.”
Lansky, who during the interview compared his companies to HBO and Playboy, has opened up to several non-U.S. publications in unusually revealing interviews. Back in July, French publication Les Inrockuptibles’ Los Angeles correspondent, writer and filmmaker Jacky Goldberg, published a piece in which Lansky, dubbed "Le Boss du Porno Bling," described his background, strategies and motivation in a much more candid way than in similar profiles in English.
“When I walk onto a Greg set, I’m taken care of, I’m respected,” Abigail Mac told Haaretz. “It’s a feeling I never had on any other set. They ask what I would like to wear, I get asked my opinion. Sometimes we would shoot a scene 18 times. No one else in the industry is doing that.”
For the full Haaretz feature, “Artful Porn and anti-Semitic Threats: The Man Behind the 'HBO of Adult Films' Bares All,” click here.