Newspaper says porn movie was shot at Memorial Coliseum more than a decade ago

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – As stadiums went quiet around the country the weekend after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there was plenty of action on the field at historic Memorial Coliseum and little of it had to do with football.

On Sept. 16, 2001, 40 minutes of group sex for a hardcore porn movie was filmed during a four-hour shoot under the lights at the Coliseum, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The University of Southern California Trojans wouldn’t have been on the field anyway that Sunday at the Coliseum, which is run by the city, county and state. But still no officials contacted by the Times knew who gave permission for the shoot.

A spokeswoman for the Coliseum said Wednesday a statement was being prepared.

Stadiums sat empty across the nation as college and professional teams cancelled games in a show of mourning in the aftermath of 9-11. But the period of bereavement apparently was cut short at the Coliseum.

The Coliseum seats, tunnel and entry can be seen in the movie, although the stadium is not identified by name in the 90-minute film.

“I was just in awe that we were at the Coliseum,” said one of the film’s stars, known as Mr. Marcus.

“I’ve made movies for about 20 years, and I’ve done a lot of things, but that one really stands out. … I mean, who gets to have sex on the Coliseum floor?”

He said the football-themed shoot included some non-explicit scenes in a Coliseum locker room but that footage did not make it into the movie.

No one contacted by the Times acknowledged giving permission for the shoot and the paper was unable to reach the production company, Anabolic Video.

The company’s logo is seen on jerseys worn by actors in the film and on banners that are draped like bunting in the stands.

The Coliseum, built as a memorial to World War I veterans, is owned by the state. The national historic landmark has hosted two Summer Olympics. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there. And the stadium is where John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.

A spokesman for the California attorney general’s office told the Times on Tuesday he didn’t know if it was illegal to film pornography on state property. Some agencies, including the California Department of Parks and Recreation, ban porn shoots.

Patrick Lynch was general manager of the Coliseum in 2001. He resigned in 2011 and was indicted in March as part of a corruption investigation.

Lynch pleaded guilty to conflict of interest as part of a deal that required him to return nearly $400,000 in alleged kickbacks from a contractor. Former events manager Todd DeStefano pleaded not guilty to charges including bribery, embezzlement and conspiracy. Four other men were also indicted.

But attorney Tony Capozzola called the porn shoot disgusting and said Lynch “would never allow that.”

Because of the alleged corruption, the Coliseum Commission voted in May to surrender control of the Coliseum and the Sports Arena to USC.

Two current commissioners, county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas, were on the panel when the movie was shot but neither would talk to the Times.

While they were filming, Mr. Marcus said a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter flew overhead. The sound of the chopper can be heard in the movie.

He said he expected to be evicted, but no order ever came. “They just circled, like they were trying to see what was going on.”

Spokesmen for the department and the Los Angeles Police Department, which has jurisdiction over the Coliseum, told the Times they had no information about a 2001 pornography shoot there.

Mr. Marcus is anything but sorry about his experience.

“You can be mad all you want, but it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime types of opportunities,” he said.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com