Will The Real Rick Pantera Please Stand Up?

Smut connoisseurs of a certain age may remember Rick Pantera as one of the standout performers of the early and mid 90s. Pantera starred in high-end "ethnic" productions such as Catalina's "Black Draft" as well as mainstream porn valley titles; we have fond memories of his star turn (and sole BDSM performance) in Grapik Arts' "Rumped and Pumped". So we were a little confused when a newbie porn studlet at Titan Media originally billed as Eduardo Cortez borrowed the exact same name for his appearance in "Carny" a few years ago. Needless to say, Rick Pantera #1 was not amused and has expressed outrage on several well-trafficked message boards including the venerable Atkol forums: "I am Rick Pantera who performed for many years in the All Male Review at the Gaiety Theater in New York City USA. "I am Rick Pantera who performed LIVE on the "Robin Byrd Show" (19) times. Those XXX Male Burlesque performances were recorded and rebroadcast several hundred if not several thousand times over the years on the 'THE BEST OF ROBIN BYRD', and "MEN FOR MEN SHOW' broadcast on a NYC TIME WARNER CABLE public access channel!" begins one caps-heavy year-old thread, a curious mixture of XXX screen shots and a lively debate around corporate ethics.

Rick Pantera (the original recipe, that is, not the young upstart who doesn't even share a resemblance) claims this "fraud and deception" cost his him "job with a Major Medical Company because they thought I was making film again. My name was in the advertisements and who are they going to believe. Titan or me. I ended up homeless from their little stunt and they sold a product making a false claim. And 1000 of people purchased those films and thought that they were looking at me." The Atkol thread becomes even more required reading when Pantera—or maybe an internet troll obsessed with the 90s porn star—posts a series of box covers and screen shots to prove his identity.

As far as his dealings with Titan are concerned, (The Real) Rick Pantera says the company told him that even though good taste prevents most models from choosing the names of existing porn stars, they had simply never heard of him. His response: "You expect the world to believe that Titan executives never heard of me... the world's most famous adult entertainer?" Well everyone ... now you know.
-RM

· "Rick Pantera is Not Rick Pantera" (bitchy discussion thread @ atkol.com)
· Rick Pantera Videography (gayemart.com)
· Rick Pantera in "Roped and Pumped" (tomropesmcgurk.com)
· Eduardo Cortez aka Rick Pantera (bio and videography @ mannet.com)

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Previously: Atkol Forums Forever!