In a wild and completely unprecedented move in the history of television, xHamster, a porn website, has offered to produce and host Sense8, a Netflix original series that was recently canceled after its second season. Netflix offered to produce a finale movie for the show, but that apparently just wasn’t good enough for xHamster.
“I find it surprising it hasn’t happened already, because it’s a money-making opportunity and the porn industry is all about making money, I guess,” sophomore Spanish major Shannon Link said. “I don’t know, I don’t watch porn.”
Sense8 is a show about eight strangers from around the world who have a psychic connection. The show follows the way that they all interact with each other as they try to figure out why they are connected and what exactly it means. It also explores subjects of sexuality and gender identity amongst the eight connected people. The show is produced and created by Lilly and Lana Wachowski, two trans women who were behind the Matrix movie series.
In a blog post on the xHamster website, Alex Hawkins, the vice president of xHamster, said that the website is “one of the most trafficked websites on the internet … (that gets) more visitors daily than the New York Times, ESPN, or the Daily Mail (sic).” The other part of the argument coming from xHamster is that they have “a long history of fighting for the rights of sexual speech and non-normative sexuality,” a theme that is present throughout the two seasons available.
It would be a brand-new move and the first-ever expansion of its kind. The blog post makes sure to clarify that they’re “not talking about a parody, or something less than, but an actual revival of the series.”
Link, who has admittedly never seen the show, believes that she would continue watching it (if she had the inclination) even with it being hosted on a porn website.
“I mean… It’s still the same show,” Link said, “just different producers who happen to also work in porn.”
Although Link said the hosting situation would not affect her hypothetical viewing, she does acknowledge the trouble that might give others.
“I’d like to say (it wouldn’t affect viewing), but it would definitely play a factor, because not everyone supports porn… but I think it could definitely drop the ratings. Or wildly increase them. Who can tell?”
By: Kevin Thomas ~Campus News Editor~