Romeo Fink, a West Hollywood resident also known as Topher DIMaggio, has been suspended from his role as a model and brand ambassador for the Andrew Christian underwear line after allegations of sexual improprieties including rape.
The suspension was first mentioned in a story posted on Queerty, the gay news website, which has published several allegations against DiMaggio (Fink’s porn name) by other porn performers. One of those comes from Bryan Hawn, another West Hollywood resident, who has nearly 200,000 followers on YouTube and who got a lot of local attention for appearing on a billboard over the Healthy Spot pet store on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood promoting his derriére.
In an interview with “Instinct,” a gay magazine, Hawn said that DiMaggio was sexually aggressive with him during an encounter at Micky’s, the gay bar on WeHo’s Santa Monica Boulevard.
“”Last year, I was at Mickey’s in Los Angeles where he was hosting for the night, and he came up to me, grabbed me by the legs trying to pick me up and put his hands on my ass,” Bryan told Instinct. “I yelled for him to stop several times in the middle of the club and he persisted. The club went silent as everyone was staring at me. I had to wrestle with all my strength to get him off of me, he was so incredibly aggressive.”
In January, Tegan Zayne, another gay porn performer, posted on Twitter an accusation that DiMaggio had had sex with him despite Zayne’s objections the night before the two were to appear together in a shoot for a gay born film.
In a lengthy series of Twitter posts, Zayne said that in 2016 DiMaggio entered the bedroom they were sharing at the filming location and insisted on having anal sex. Zayne said he objected that he hadn’t prepared himself for that, an objection that he said DiMaggio dismissed. Finally, Zayne said, he asked DiMaggio not to ejaculate in him but DiMaggio did anyway.
In his post, Zayne said he had “struggled with the idea that maybe he didn’t rape me, and maybe I did enjoy it. Maybe having someone cum in you when you repeatedly tell then ‘no’ is not a big deal when ur a sex worker….
“Nothing is going to happen, he will still be getting awards and jobs, so why am I telling this story? Because it can happen to anyone. You will be manipulated to think YOU are the one in the wrong.”
Zayne also said that despite the coverage given to the #MeToo campaign against sexual assault of women, “it feels like no one cares about the male victims, or the sex workers. As someone else said to me ‘rape doesn’t exist in this line of wrk,’ and it couldn’t be more true.”
The other allegations against DIMaggio have been made by men insisting on anonymity. A man interviewed by StraightUpGayPorn, a website whose name indicates its content, described DiMaggio forcing himself on him and raping in a bathroom and another man described another aggressive sexual encounter. In an interview with the website associated with Hornet, the gay sex app, another anonymous man alleges that DiMaggio continued having anal sex with him after he initially said no and kept objecting.
In a statement to Queerty, Andrew Christian said: “Andrew Christian does not condone sexual abuse or any other type of abuse or mistreatment to members of our community. We are taking allegations made by the victims very seriously. Accordingly, Topher is on indefinite suspension while we look into the matter. Late last year Andrew Christian started Project LOVE to help support various worthy charities in the LGBTQ community. Andrew Christian is committed to creating a safe welcoming environment for our LGBTQ family.” That said, an email blast from Andrew Christian today promoting a Valentine’s Day sale included images of DiMaggio, which fans were able to identify from his tattoo.
Andrew Christian, which has operated a store on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood’s Boystown nightlife district for years, has recently shuttered it. That store was known for the highly erotic videos in his storefront window, videos that some viewed as pornographic.
DiMaggio as of publication has not responded to this publication’s request for a comment. However he did respond to the allegations by Zayne and others in a Tweet (since deleted) that has been criticized for being largely lifted from a similar statement by Russell Simons and for including images to support his argument that were not relevant to the allegations.
“I vehemently deny all these allegations,” DiMaggio said in the post to his Twitter account. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core. All of my relations with this person have been consensual and willing. The current accusations against me range from the patently untrue to hurtful. Also, stating he WILLINGLY had sex with me (see screnshot below).
“Furthermore, he never said “no”. I’m hurt by these false accusations and malicious slanderous statements that are simply not true. The presumption of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ must not be replaced by “Guilty by Accusation.”
“Not wanting to further a relationship or not being friendly enough after having consensual sex doesn’t give the other person who had different expectations of a romance the right to accuse someone of something so awful. Rape is a very serious thing and not a word to be thrown around. To all my friends and followers please use this opportunity to open a healthy dialogue and not as an opportunity to attack or belittle anyone.”
[…] adds that DiMaggio has since been accused of sexual assault by others, though at the time no one had spoken out publicly. “I spoke to people who know him now, and they […]
If the case was true, he would have sent to jail or maybe other gay porno company(ies) won’t hire him as a gay porn actor. Maybe some guys were, in my opinion, were very jealous because of his popularity and very good-looking facial look with his nice body and big “rod”. Maybe Texan Zayne and others really wanted him, but he didn’t interest in them, so they wanted to “avenge” him. Who knows? Hey, I am not on his side, but it only just is my opinion, that is all. Remember that, you know, many gays always are “brainwashed” attractively… Read more »