Right-Wing Education Activist Says Attention to His Gay Porn Past is a 'Cancellation Attempt' to Which He Won't 'Consent'

Education activist Corey DeAngelis, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, says the way he's being faced with his porn past and charged with hypocrisy is a "cancellation attempt" from "the left" that he refuses to agree to.

Agree or not, he did seemingly admit that the explicit images of him that have been circulating – images from a jerk-off contest he participated in under the name Seth Rose, and which he won by climaxing ahead of several other young men – were genuine.

"There are images and videos circulating of me from my college days about a decade ago that I'm not proud of," DeAngelis told CBN. "They're embarrassing."

StraightUpGayPorn.com reported on the images before other outlets, detailing that DeAngelis was described as a "hot otter" for the adult content in which he appeared for GayHoopla, which comprised "multiple gay porn scenes."

In the decade since those images were made, the "hot otter" has gone on to become "a prominent opponent of public schools and critic of LGBTQ+ rights in education," Out detailed, as well as a proponent of "diverting public funding to private and charter schools," Pink News added. As previously reported, his credentials as a right-wing education activist include ties to everything from the Cato Institute to Betsy DeVos' American Federation for Children, along with a host of other right-wing organizations and think tanks.

But it's not just his stint in adult entertainment that has rung alarm bells for his critics. Out noted that "DeAngelis's ties to Project 2025, a far-right agenda designed by organizations like the Heritage Foundation to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, have also drawn attention."

"The project proposes rolling back federal protections for LGBTQ+ students, including removing policies that ensure their safety in schools," Out detailed. "It also calls for the total dismantling of the Department of Education."

After dancing around the question of whether it really was him in the images, DeAngelis called his porn past a mistake that he had chosen to turn away from. Confusingly, even as he said he had been "lured" into "bad decisions" by the porn industry, DeAngelis seemed to suggest that American schools are presenting hardcore porn to children in classrooms.

"If I was able to be lured in to make bad decisions as a young adult in college, just imagine how much worse it could be for younger people," DeAngelis told CBN. Evidently trying to link his having been "lured" by the porn industry to American education, he declared, "I don't want this kind of material to be in front of children in the K-12 education system before they are consenting adults."

DeAngelis offered no examples of textbooks or other teaching material featuring images of hot young guys competing in a jerk-off contest to back up his suggestion that "this kind of material" is actually present in America's classrooms.

DeAngelis said that he's been embraced by the right, including Christopher Rufo, who tweeted that there has been "unanimous support" for DeAngelis and declared that "cancellation requires consent..."

"Well, guess what? I do not consent to this smear campaign [and] mud-slinging," DeAngelis said. He offered a counter-critique to those who have pointed out the incongruity of a onetime entertainer in the gay adult genre positioning himself as a kind of education czar.

"There has been a cancellation attempt from the left," DeAngelis declared, "and my political opponents are trying to accuse me of hypocrisy."

Out said that "DeAngelis's admission and attempts to frame himself as a victim of cancel culture have done little to appease his critics. LGBTQ+ advocates point to the irony of a man who profited from the same communities he now seeks to marginalize."

But the so-called "cancellation attempt" has not been entirely from the left, and support for the onetime "hot otter" has hardly been "unanimous." As Out noted, "Following the release of the videos, DeAngelis was fired from the American Federation for Children, where he had served as a senior fellow. Initially placed on leave, DeAngelis was later dismissed, with the organization confirming, 'Corey is no longer at AFC.'"

DeAngelis went on to paint himself as the victim of online harassment not unlike that which members of the queer community – and trans people in particular – routinely suffer. According to FaithWire, online trolls urged him to commit suicide and encouraged his wife to leave him.