Trump Won't Give Porn Stars Coronavirus Bailout Money DMT.NEWS
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump may be the first president in U.S. history believed to have slept with an adult film star, but don’t expect the porn industry to get any help from his administration’s $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
A new streamlined disaster loan request form requires applicants to swear under penalty of perjury that they do “not present live performances of a prurient sexual nature.”
The paperwork also bans applicants who get more than a minimal amount of “revenue through the sale of products or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, of a prurient sexual nature,” meaning that retailers selling anything more than a few sex toys or porn magazines could find themselves rejected.
The same goes for a host of others, including legal weed growers and dispensaries, casinos, lobbyists, members of Congress, and anyone seriously delinquent on their child support.
Those folks all get denied right up front in the new COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) application on the SBA website, which rolled out as part of the government’s massive $2 trillion attempt to prevent economic collapse and keep small businesses and freelancers from going broke.
READ: Trump Says Weed Makes You Dumb, Leaked Audio Reveals
The federal response includes expanding small business loans through the EIDL program, and also a $350 billion provision aimed at covering paychecks for small businesses at nonprofits. But as the government rushes to bring those programs into action, the emerging details show that some big American industries are getting left to fend for themselves — especially those who trade in porn or weed.
Legal marijuana growers and dispensaries get shut out because the language requires borrowers to affirm that they are “not engaged in any illegal activity (as defined by Federal guidelines).” Cannabis remains restricted at the federal level, despite thriving as a business in many states that allow statewide medical and recreational consumption.
Representatives for the Small Business Administration didn’t return a request to comment from VICE News. But at least some of these restrictions stem directly from long-standing regulations at the SBA.
READ: Here's How Much Cash You'll Really Get From the Coronavirus Stimulus
Loan eligibility rules dating back well before the coronavirus outbreak also include the “prurient sexual nature” clause. And this is hardly the first time the legal weed industry will have trouble accessing the banking system, let alone getting a small business loan, due to the continued federal prohibition.
Yet the coronavirus crisis has changed plenty of other rules. And the Trump administration has prided itself, both in its pandemic response and elsewhere, on trammeling over old bureaucratic restrictions in the name of economic growth. That applies especially when it comes to busting up regulations aimed at protecting the environment or slowing down global warming, such as fuel efficiency standards. But in this case, his administration showed no such special hurry to help out either state-legal weed or the pornography industry.
Trump is on record expressing skepticism about national legalization of marijuana because he suspects that smoking weed might make you dumb. He’s also had to deny claims by adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she slept with Trump years ago and then received hush money to stay quiet about it before the 2016 presidential election.
Whatever Trump’s personal position, for the moment, his administration has made it possible for a beer megastore to apply for an emergency loan to stay in business. The marijuana dispensary or the sex shop down the street, on the other hand, appear to be out of luck.
Cover: Adult film performers attend the 2020 Adult Video News Awards at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 25, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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by Greg Walters, Khareem Sudlow
