2023 Rewind: Daddy and Gay Adult Star Lance Charger Does Encore for WOW's 'Click Boys'

This piece is part of EDGE's 2023 Rewind series. We're reaching into our archives and sharing some of our favorite stories from the past year.

"Let me just start by saying nobody was more surprised than me that people wanted to see me naked at 50 years old," adult content creator Lance Charger says. "So it definitely caught me by surprise."

He is talking about his rise to fame as a porn star. Charger (his stage name) was recently featured on the WOW Presents Plus short docuseries "Click Boys," in which many of his peers in the adult entertainment industry tell the stories behind their success. In an industry that is still considered taboo, it grows at an exponential rate every year. So far in 2023, it has raked in over $1 billion.

So what is the problem? There really isn't one except that if you decide to go into the business where you could make yourself rich overnight, there is a stigma – a fierce and insidious one that can make its way into the spirit of the performer. Not only is there prejudice about the work, but in a business where the talent is predominantly young, ageism is an obstacle as well.

Charger is a strapping gentleman. His poise is as astute as his posture. His grey hair and beard are perfectly manicured as if he just stepped out of the barber's chair. For this interview, he was conservatively dressed and wore dark glasses that enriched his already studious demeanor. He is polite and well-spoken with an intellect underscored only by his easygoing approachability. If you were to meet him on the street, you wouldn't suspect that his alter-ego is a retired viral porn star.

Behind the screen, Charger is now a corporate businessman, and happy doing it. He put his porn character to bed for good after he got hired.

"It's just the best job I've ever had in my life and I love it so much," he explains. "I feel like my whole life and career is kind of grooming me for this role and I realized Lance was just about to explode and there was like eight weeks – seven, eight weeks of time I was gonna have to take off work to do, like, you know, a film in Chicago and a film in New York and a couple of movies here and one in Fort Lauderdale and a coffee table book."

He says that one day after a visit to the dentist he sent out the announcement that his sexy onscreen persona, Lance, was taking a final bow. It wasn't until WOW approached about being a part of "Click Boys" that he considered bringing him back for a brief encore. Still, even though he was afraid his new job would find out, "I just decided I wanted to do it. And one of the big reasons it's important to me to do the interviews and do the piece was I retired rather abruptly."

In the smoke of that blaze of glory are two years of hard work both personally and professionally. In the beginning, there was self-doubt and insecurity. Thankfully, the adult industry has many niches, one of them being older men, or what they call "daddies." Charger is the epitome of that, and with his self-confidence, he entered into that realm. "I'm actually really proud to be that, to be one of many," he says. "There's a lot of guys my age in the business, but especially with this particular project, I'm flattered, and I take it very seriously and I like carrying that torch and being able to represent that."

Although there is still some controversy over pseudo-incestuous storylines in adult movies, there is a demand for them. In the gay space, it usually involves a May/December romance with a non-biological family member. Let's be clear, legitimate production companies only employ models of legal age. Costuming and make-up are used to make actors appear younger than they are.

He says the demand for such storylines is why he used them the most and it is that sense of being wrong that stimulated the interest.

"This sort of father and a stepson or whatever, there's something so taboo about it. It supercharges the idea around the content," he conveys. "And that makes it really popular – people find content that excites them, whether it's dangerous or it's super-hot to them, or it's a fetish that they have."

He recalls one movie he did in which an older teen, distraught at his mother's passing tries to get the acceptance of his stepfather only to find himself rejected at every turn. Eventually, things get sexual.

That was for a studio called Disruptive Films whose whole brand positioning is creating disturbing scenarios. "It's some really, really dark twists and turns in those characters," says Charger. "I loved working with them because it was very script-heavy and I always loved the acting portion of this and creating characters. But I will tell you, when I saw that trailer, it made me honestly cry. I felt like Lance was such an absolute son of a bitch and that poor kid, I felt so bad for him. But those stories exist out there, whether it's between gay men or straight men and sons or daughters. So, for me, it was the opportunity to kind of dig deep and play a role that was really, really opposite for me."

Censorship has become a hot-button issue once again as the conservative right continues to push legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community. From Florida's "Don't Say Gay," to banning drag shows, to dehumanizing trans folk in Kentucky, it appears they want to erase the community from society.

To that end, Charger thinks that when these "hate fads" come up they are ridiculous because people tend to disparage what they don't understand.

"Right now it's drag queens, it's always something," he says, adding that once the situation – whether it be a drag queen, or a gay person, or trans person – enters their inner circle, "they are forced to look at it and they are exposed to it and understand it... all of that tends to dissipate."

"For me, and I know this is probably gonna be a grave, a huge overstatement – and I'm sure people won't love this – but, and I don't mean this in a like, 'you never went to school' way, but I think it's just a lack of experience. It's a lack of education that makes people lash out and demonize other people for their choices because I've seen it more often than not."

As for the choice to bring Lance back into the adult entertainment workforce, he has moved on. With a dream job and probably a well-padded bank account thanks to his movies, Charger has put his porn doppelganger to bed (so to speak). But he does pop out non-professionally once in a while. "Lance makes a comeback every time I bring a guy home. Outside of that, no. I think I'm done."

You can watch "Click Boys" on the streaming app WOW Presents Plus.

Watch this clip of Lance Charger from "Click Boys":