Manhunt Man of The Week: AthlVersBlkGuy (AKA Gay Porn Star JP Richards)

JP Richards has been shooting porn for the past two years. The Detroit native is very well hung, in amazing shape and, in his own words, “likes it all”. You can find him in scenes for a number of studios, or you can find him here on Manhunt under the name AthlVersBlkGuy.

He was nice enough to answer some questions for us this week. Scroll on down to learn about his coming out, Detroit and what’s next for this handsome stud.

– Lawrence

See more pics and read our interview with JP Richards below:

So I want to talk to you about porn, but I know you live in Detroit, which has been in the news a lot lately.

Yeah, we’re bankrupt! I’m from Detroit, and I’ve always lived here. I’m bad about watching the news, because I work really off hours and don’t get to watch too much TV, so I literally get most of my news from Twitter. Detroit’s a really great city, and it’s honestly not as bad here as the media makes it sound. The suburbs are a complete contrast from the downtown, too. The people here are making money, but the city isn’t.

Do you think you’ll be there for the long haul?

Actually, I love the city, but I’m ready to move. I really like New York, I love San Francisco, and I really like Chicago. I like the pace of big cities. I want to go to grad school, and part of the reason I got into the porn industry was to pay student loan bills.

I was going to ask you how you got started…

I always wanted to be in the industry, so I got on Twitter and made friends with some guys who were in already. That’s how I made the plunge. I like to look before I leap, and I do like to leap. I actually shot my first scene two years ago this week with Mitch Vaughn for My Gay Boss.

And it seems like you’re having a good time…

I love it. It’s been a really fun ride so far. I get to meet great guys—hot guys—and I get paid for it. I have a full-time job that I’ve had forever, so I get a lot of time off that allows me to travel and do this. I was told to always have another job and to always have a backup plan, and you don’t want to be caught with something to fall back on, because eventually you will want to retire. And you want it to be fun. When you take it too seriously or you’re relying on it too much, that’s when it stops being fun. And that reflects in your performance, too.

I know you’ve mentioned being religious. Is it hard for you to balance that side of life with doing porn? And are people really surprised by that?

My close friends from home know I’m doing porn, and they think it’s cool. My straight friends have a lot of questions about it, and I have to let them know that it’s work. It’s fun, but it’s work. I plan on telling my family at some point. I didn’t tell them right away, because I didn’t know how long I’d be doing it. It wasn’t a conversation we needed to have if I was only going to shoot on scene. It won’t be their favorite thing, but they’ll get over it.

I don’t have a problem with it. My bigger struggle was with coming out and telling people that I was gay. Going to college out of state helped me find out who I was. Half of my fraternity brothers were taken aback when I came out to them, and the other half of them said they knew already. And then they saw me coming out of my shell. They really didn’t care. They said, “As long as you’re happy, you’re healthy, and you’re safe.”

Any favorite experiences so far?

The three-way with Race Cooper and Kiern Duecan. The Cazzo scene with Jace Tyler. Having Diesel Washington direct the DawgPoundUSA scene… I love doing live performances, too. I really haven’t had a bad experience. The Brandon Jones scene with Lucas Entertainment was really hot, too.

The most recent post on your blog is actually an essay about Trayvon Martin. You give multiple examples of being racially profiled, by police and also in department stores. I’d like to know how you think this applies to the porn industry…

I’ve said it before. I wish race didn’t matter in porn, but it does. In porn, you’re there for a job. You’re not shooting your own hookups. Personally, I just wish a hot guy was a hot guy. I’m proud of being a black man, and I’m proud to represent black men in porn, but I always feel like race should not be as big a deal as it is. I’m personally attracted to every race. You name a race, I’ve slept with a member of that race. I wish that people just saw hotness.

When I talked to Race Cooper this summer he said something similar, that he would do any kind of porn there was except thug porn. I thought that was really interesting.

I want all my scenes to look like what I do in my natural life, and I wouldn’t have the right attitude to pull off a thug scene. And if the thug is just a stereotype, then I’m not down for it. I wear snapback hats, and I like hip-hop music, but I’m not a thug. I don’t think I could pull that off even if I wanted to.

So what’s coming next?

I did a shoot for Cazzo with Jace Tyler that’s coming out soon. I shot it in Berlin when I was there for Hustlaball. It’s a really pretty city, it was my first time there. And I shot a lot with Next Door Ebony a few months ago, but all those scenes haven’t come out yet.

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