Gay adult performer Billy Santoro admits he faked a suicide attempt after backlash for racist posts
The former D.C. bartender was condemned after calling for Black protesters to be shot.
Billy Santoro says he faked a suicide attempt earlier this year following backlash over a series of racist posts about Black protesters.
It comes just days after the gay adult performer was evicted from his Australian apartment for hosting noisy “meet-and-greets.”
Santoro, a former D.C. resident and bartender and general manager of EFN Lounge/Motley Bar, made headlines in June after calling for Black people protesting the death of George Floyd to be shot.
“Lol. America! Lol you let your blacks loot as a way of protest,” Santoro wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Wake the fuck up. Shoot first.”
Santoro initially responded to the backlash over his tweets by claiming that he had lost a friend during looting in Philadelphia, saying, “Those who know me know I am not racist. I am hurt by the loss of my friend.”
But that fell flat when social media posts revealed further racist comments, including Santoro claiming “Blacks will just breed more hatred towards them” in response to a tweet about the destruction of property during the protests.
On June 2, JustForFans, an online adult site that allows users to profit from posting explicit content, condemned Santoro and removed his account, calling his comments “vile.”
That evening, Santoro’s husband Gage Santoro claimed on social media that Santoro had tried to commit suicide and shared photos of him in a hospital room.
“Last night the man that I love so dearly attempted suicide based on the hate he has received,” Gage Santoro tweeted.
At the time, some questioned the validity of those claims based on what was present in the photos, with one person asking why, if he was on suicide watch, he was “still fully clothed.”
Another questioned the placement of Santoro’s IV, and accused the couple of staging the photo.
Now, Santoro has confirmed that the suicide attempt was fake.
Santoro responded on Twitter to a tweet about his recent eviction, previous admission of meth addiction, and the suicide attempt.
“Nah. 1) No suicide attempt, it was an ingrown hair removal,” he wrote on Sunday. “2) meth isn’t the blame. You are. 3. Who the fuck are you lol.”
Last week, both Santoros were evicted from their apartment in Sydney, Australia, after neighbors complained that the couple were using it to film adult content for their OnlyFans.
Their landlord served an eviction notice after the couple failed to adhere to the building’s bylaws, including “disturbing the peaceful enjoyment of surrounding lots with extreme noise.”
Police were called to the building at least three times, and neighbors said that they were “failing to practice social distancing during meet-and-greets organized via social media.”
Read more: Gay adult film star Billy Santoro evicted after loud ‘meet and greets’ in apartment
Santoro had previously blamed his racist comments on addiction to meth in a video shared to Twitter.
“I’ve said some things that I totally regret, which I apologize for and by no way mean, while under the influence. I finally woke up one day and hit rock bottom,” he said in October. “Me and my husband Gage both have an addiction that we’re fighting, and it’s been hard. We have all the tools to recover but it’s been very hard.”
However, Queerty reports that at least one of the recent videos on the Santoros’ OnlyFans account shows Billy Santoro injecting meth.
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