Go West Young Man: Chat With Aspiring Porn Star Matt Grant

It’s easy to get lost in the sea of cute dudes on Twitter. The social platform, unlike some of its peers such as Facebook and Instagram, allows users to post nude photos, and oh, so much more. It goes without saying that Twitter has become one of the most important tools for showing off your tool if you’re in the porn industry, and as such there are more tweeted taints than you can shake a dick at. 

If you peruse porn, you will know that once you click on one Twitter handle with XXX at the end, you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of peen. It’s a bag of potato chips, and at the end you feel pretty good, but also a little greasy. As it is in the real world, with so much to choose from on Twitter it’s hard to stand out as memorable. Once the viewer gets desensitized to the crazy things he sees (and goodness gracious there are some crazy things), the poster is relying on something more than shock.

To call my eyes desensitized is an understatement, as they have been in the trenches. It was to my surprise, then, when I came across a page that jolted my jaded eyeballs. The page belonged to @mtsgrant, or Matt Grant, a blue-eyed midwestern boy just months away from packing up his bags and moving to California to start a career in porn. His posts were cute, light, and fun, and he seemed to have an adoring fan base already. With 14.6K followers, as many as some established industry stars, not to mention entire corporations, I was curious. Who is this guy? How does he have so many followers? Is he scared? Is he excited? Does he have a plan? How are his eyes so freaking blue? After some back and forth direct messaging, Matt and I arranged a time to speak. I needed answers about this boy.

A face selfie--the light makes me look angelic (which I am most def not!) pic.twitter.com/QYpXB9BUmc

— MattGrantxxx (@mtsgrant) September 2, 2015

I was initially struck by Matt’s thick midwestern accent. It was just as I had hoped for. When we first started chatting I realized I sounded like a parent grilling his boy about life decisions. I asked incredulously “Why did you pick Los Angeles?” knowing that the industry is dispersed around the country. “It’s a good central location. There’s also porn in San Diego, in Phoenix, in Las Vegas. I feel like in Los Angeles you get a broad range of entertainment options besides just porn.” Checks out. “Do you have a place to live?” “Yes.” Phew. 

We chatted a little bit about his life. Matt played rugby and baseball in high school, and adores his hometown of Kansas City. Matt graduated from college with a degree in Asian Studies, and when pressed for a “Um, why?” responded “Because I love Asia, especially China.” Fair enough. He’s traveled all over the world, and his favorite movie is Casino. Such a guy movie. 

With the small talk out of the way, we got into something a little trickier. From some texting I knew that Matt cared deeply for his mother. I happened to catch him one time while he was waiting for her at the doctor’s office, and we messaged a little about their relationship. “Do your parents know what you’re doing?” I asked over the phone. Matt paused. “Not really. They know that I’m moving to LA, and they know that I want to be in the entertainment industry, but they don’t know the specifics.” “Do you plan on telling them?” “No.” Channeling my grandmother I asked “You’ve been around your parents for so much of your life, won’t you miss them after this big change?” Matt said affectionately “Of course I will, and I’ll miss Kansas City. I’ve lived here my whole life, but it is just time for a change of pace.” 

Happy hump day no. 2. pic.twitter.com/FFeMIXpSey

— MattGrantxxx (@mtsgrant) September 2, 2015

The million-dollar question with any big decision, of course, is “Why?” I warmed up to this, not knowing if it would hit on something sensitive. I realized I was just a drama queen when Matt answered confidentially “I’m a huge exhibitionist. I love showing off for people and being in front of the camera.” “So, is that the part of this new chapter that most excites you?” I pressed. “Yes, just being able to let this side out of me, you know this exhibitionist, horny side out of me, you know?” I’m from the South where we repress everything until we get aneurisms, so not really, but I envy him.   

This brought us to some of Matt’s views on the industry. I mentioned that it’s not everyday people’s professional decisions align with their form of self-expression. Matt has thought about this before, and responded “Otherwise I think it’s the wrong profession. I know that a lot of people are advertised as gay for pay, but it’s like come on, this is not the only thing you can do to make money. So, I don’t believe that oh gee wiz (note: how adorable is he) they’re just here because they want to make money.” “So, it’s a character then,” I said. “I’m sure making money is a part of it, it is for me too, but it can’t be the only reason.”

Matt is highly aware of the importance relationships play in any business. He’d actually be a heck of an account manager. I’m glad he’s not, but he could be. Twitter doesn’t automatically make you connected. You have to know how to use it, and since the only thing I’ve gotten out of Twitter is carpal tunnel, I asked Matt about his process. “How do you go about reaching out to someone regarding a possible professional opportunity?” “I start a conversation gradually, because I don’t want to…” Matt trails off then picks back up “Sometimes people are maybe a little more aggressive than they should be. I don’t want to be that guy. I like to say ‘Hey, how are you?’ just start a conversation.” Love it.   

This is my cat--as you can see she is quite plush and never misses a meal pic.twitter.com/bbqBaQdjdi

— MattGrantxxx (@mtsgrant) August 27, 2015

He continues: “It’s not just about the one scene that you do, it’s about building up a reputation. I’m the professional performer who shows up on time. I don’t do drugs or anything like that, and I barely drink.” I try to be cute “Ya, um, oh God I drink. I drink a lot.” Matt pauses, then says thoughtfully “That’s not good for you.” I can tell he starts wondering if I’m currently drunk. “I’m not drunk.” Saved it. 

Although Matt started his Twitter about a year ago (by the way at the time of this article he’s up to 15K followers) it was only about two months ago that he decided he wanted to take the porn plunge and move West. Matt was getting great feedback from his pictures as well as his cum shot videos on Porn Hub. Oh, by the way, Matt loves his huge cum shots and from what I can tell, so do a lot of his fans. The attention he received from Twitter instilled the confidence necessary to pursue porn as a profession. 

An afternoon cock selfie pic.twitter.com/pEJmN0h4Bl

— MattGrantxxx (@mtsgrant) August 23, 2015

This took our conversation back to the indisputable importance of Twitter in the industry. When asked about how exactly he got so many followers, Matt responded “I wish I knew the answer to that because honestly it’s kind of taken me by surprise. I just got retweeted by the right people.” Of course Matt’s gorgeous face and great cum shots don’t count against him in the race for Twitter followers, I’m sure. When asked if he could have made this jump without the help of Twitter, Matt said flatly “No.”

Once we started chatting about Matt’s sexuality, I found myself a little surprised. It turns out my cute midwestern gay boy is actually bisexual. This shouldn’t have shocked me, but with Matt’s almost entirely gay male fan base, it did a little. His sexuality came about when asked “What is your ideal career trajectory?” to which Matt responded “To do both gay and straight porn, and maybe some bi porn.” It turns out this was another impetus for moving to Los Angeles instead of Boston or San Francisco. Matt has had sex with both men and women, but has never officially dated a guy. 

We spent some time laughing and chatting about sexual preferences and positions. Matt loves getting blowjobs from guys (“What a surprise” – you). He gives them as well, but in the end dreams of having man mouth on his cock. Matt has never bottomed, but has a fantasy of bottoming for his porn idol, Brent Everett. I also discover that his ideal porn scene is “getting corrupted by a hot MILF.” Awesome.

Since Matt and I were best friends at this point (“Nope.” – Matt) I wanted to ask one more time about the reality of moving, of changing his entire life. I loved hearing about his excitement, but wanted to know about any nervousness, any trepidations. Matt’s answer gave me chill bumps, and made the dad inside of me take a Xanas. (No, I didn’t really have a daddy inside of me).

Good morning twitter pic.twitter.com/LSnuKf6THf

— MattGrantxxx (@mtsgrant) August 31, 2015 

“Is there anything that sticks out as being especially nerve-racking for you?” I asked. After a comment about not being able to get an erection on set (totally understandable), I pressed for more. Matt paused, and then said “You know, just hooking up with the wrong people, just making the wrong connections or whatever. In the industry there are a lot of great people and there are a lot of people who are not so great. Sometimes it’s hard to sniff out the good people – I’m somewhat intuitive on that – but I haven’t had enough experience to spot those people right away.”

After my heart hit the floor, I realized that maybe this was a good thing. In addition to being a babe, Matt was smart, and his ability to acknowledge the perils we face in everyday life made him seem pensive. He continued “I think in the end it’s just a matter of experience. Maybe you have a couple bad things happen to you – sometimes having bad things happen to you isn’t always, well, a bad thing, because then you learn and grow.” 

Matt is someone you want to root for. Sincerity, humor, and sex appeal are all packaged together perfectly in this midwestern blue-eyed bundle. It makes me very happy to know that Matt is a man with a plan. He has been taking acting lessons to help him loosen up on set, and already has some offers on the table in Los Angeles. He continues to actively engage his Twitter followers, and is appreciative of any and all attention that he receives. 

I would say that this ends my conversation with Matt, but that isn’t the case. We exchange text messages daily, and I enjoy getting updates on his life. As I said before, Matt builds relationships, and if the porn watchers of the world are even half as engaged by Matt as I am, I think he’s going to do just fine. 

Matt can be found on Twitter @mtsgrant Tumblr: mtsgrant Instagram: @mattgrantt87