We Accidentally Helped Start This Guy’s Porn Career

The pinned post on Andy Black’s Twitter profile reads “BIG DICK REVEAL” and features a video of the performer unsheathing a member which, by his own measurements, comes in at just over 9 inches. Eyeballing the tape I feel like the nineteen year old may have undersold himself. Checking out subsequent posts—Black using his penis to play video games, Black masturbating while driving—the unit seems a lot bigger. While his Twitter account has been active for less than three months, Black has amassed over 80,000 followers. That rapid rise in the world of pornography can be attributed in part to his impressive cock and charming personality. But indirectly it’s also because of me.

A few weeks back I got a Twitter DM from Black. He had read an article I wrote about the economics of being a cam model and wanted to thank me for what I had written. In the article top earners were making around eight grand a month. The info in the article, along with the film Boogie Nights, had given him the confidence to pursue a career in porn. The message caught me by surprise. I thanked him for reaching out.

“Yeah on god I’m on some dirk diggler shit rn,” he replied.

In the days following our exchange, I thought about Black’s message a lot. The decision to become a sex worker carries a lot of weight. That choice, coupled with instantly gaining a sizeable online audience, probably meant a lot of changes happening all at once. I wondered how he was handling everything. Was there pressure? Was he nervous about his online porn life bleeding into the real world?

So I asked if Black would be interested in an interview and he happily obliged. Over the course of our conversation and subsequent messages I learned that for Black the relative glamour of the adult world offered an escape from a tumultuous upbringing, minimum wage work, and time spent in juvenile detention. Porn felt like making it.

Black was born in North Carolina and grew up in Arkansas. He described his childhood as a “bad situation” and frequently alluded to a myriad of family issues. While he was hesitant to get into details, what was clear was the stress of an unstable home life coupled with Middle American angst left him seeking relief wherever he could find it. Black bounced between living situations. He says he blew off school for weed and video games. He leaned heavily on romantic relationships for support and strength and ran with a group he describes as “bad kids”. In 2017 Black was involved in a robbery and spent time in youth detention.

The month in youth jail gave him a chance to truly reflect on what he wanted in life. He had big dreams of being a famous rapper. He had more practical aspirations of becoming a travel nurse. But in the back of his head Black had another ambition. He wanted to make money by using his dick.

After finishing probation Black moved from Arkansas to Florida with the hopes of a fresh start. He found a job working at Starbucks and started researching a career in adult performance. From a young age he recognized his appendage was bigger than most professional performers, but his initial reading on male pornstars proved disappointing.

“All the articles said, ‘ It’s not as fun as it looks.’ ‘You’re just a dick.’ ‘You have to do so much work.’ That wasn’t really what I was looking for,” said Black. “I actually started looking into what the girls had to say. That’s where I got most of my advice until I found your article.”

In the article sex workers talk positively about performing on cam, with the men emphasizing how much fun they’re having. The article also offers advice on start-up costs, general best practices, and side hustles. Black read the article, did some more research, and then made a plan. He would perform on Chaturbate, using the cam work to usher viewers towards his private Snapchat or Only Fans account. There he would sell videos and custom content.

From Day One things went extremely well. “The first day I was on cam, I shot with my ex-girlfriend. At first I was worried about getting hard but at a certain point I forgot the camera was there,” said Black. “People just kept on messaging like, ‘Whoa, that dude has a fucking big cock.’ That’s when I thought I might be onto something.”

Black’s career in porn was so successful it started causing problems at his day job. While he was supposed to be foaming lattes, fans would message begging for paid Skype sessions and explicit photos. Black would sneak into the washroom to fulfill the requests.

After a month the money he was making at porn quadrupled the money he was making at the coffee shop. Black decided to quit via the employee group chat.

“I sent a message saying, ‘Sorry everybody! It’s been great! It’s been memories I’ll never forget! But I’m quitting Starbucks to pursue doing porn full time!’” Black said. “Everybody went crazy. One manager was like, ’Oh, so no two weeks’ notice? The other manager was like, ‘Please don’t quit, man. You’re a really good barista!”

Black has been performing for seven months total. Things really took off after making his Twitter profile. He didn’t want to put his financial status on the record, but he sent me a copy of his bank statement. He is making five figures a month.

Initially when Black reached out about my contribution to his porn career I was worried for him. While I know many sex workers who love their jobs, the industry is notoriously difficult. Early days in the business can have a honeymoon period and maintaining the porn lifestyle can take a lot of energy. But for Black, porn seems to be a genuinely positive influence on his life. It’s offered opportunities and money he wouldn’t have otherwise. Choosing to masturbate on the internet carries stigma in the straight world, but comparatively the straight world hadn’t offered him all that much. The love and attention he gets on the cam outweighs everything that came before. Porn is still new, but for the moment Black adores what he’s doing.

Towards the end of our conversation—amid stories of celebrities in his DMs and his love for the fans—Black reflects on how floored he is by the success. Listening to him talk he sounds like the musicians I’ve interviewed right before their big break. It’s kind of wild. I thought about my small contribution to the journey he’s on. I wondered where it’s all going to go. Wrapping up I asked if Black had any bigger goals for his career.

“Right now I’m mainly focusing on this. It’s hard—especially for straight dudes—to grow this kind of following. I feel like I’m kind in my own lane with it,” said Black. “But eventually I want to appear on camera with my clothes on.”

Follow Graham Isador on Twitter.