Known for its wholesome, female-centric image, the Miss America pageant is now at the center of a media frenzy after one of the main sponsors for the California preliminaries was revealed to be a gay porn star, producer and web impresario.
As RadarOnline reported yesterday, Ric Alonso and longtime partner Ernie Koneck are both highly involved in the Southern California Scholarship Association — a nonprofit that produces the Miss Hollywood pageant, an official preliminary to Miss California and Miss America. The couple also owns Dancing Moose, the web design company that produces the Miss California site.
Alonso was revealed to go by the pseudonym Jake Cruise, a porn star and producer who owns and operates three hardcore adult sites for gay men: JakeCruise.com, Cocksuremen.com and StraightGuys4GayEyes.com.
"As you can see, I'm your average middle aged gay man who likes to have fun with hot guys of all ages," the New York Daily News quotes Alonso as writing on one of the sites. "One thing I strive for is that we all have fun while having sex." Photos on at least one of the sites depict "Jake Cruise" engaging in a variety of explicit sexual acts, including some bareback (i.e. condom-free) scenes.
However, as Fox News reports, Koneck quickly announced his resignation as Executive Director of the Southern California Scholarship Association, and emphasized that Alonso's involvement in the pageant was strictly financial. "He's not involved in the running of the pageant in any way," Koneck said. "Likewise, my involvement in Ric's business is strictly administrative and financial ...also, the Southern California Scholarship Association is not a nonprofit corporation, nor has it ever been presented as such. It is an unincorporated association that does not make a profit or remunerate anyone involved in the pageant in any way."
It's been a rough week for gay porn stars overall. A Massachusetts-based English teacher and crew coach was revealed to have done a brief stint in the porn industry under the name "Hytch Cawke."