So, you want to be superstar famous, huh? It's easier thought (dreamt), then done. Hold on, don’t feel down and out yet, there is still one last glimmer of stardom hope, release a sex tape! True, it works best if you’re already a little well-known, or at least “mediocre-ly” famous. However, that's not always the case.

I recently was informed about the release of an X-rated tape starring a super nobody, wish-I-was rapper, who managed to “get it on” with a semi-known model. He had absolutely no shame in using the tape to boost (or better yet, start) his career. Throughout the explicit video, his website and e-mail kept floating past the screen; his music, of course was playing in the background. He made it even worse with the promo-packed monologue intro he forced observers (or whatever you want to call them) to watch before the actual “action started”. The model he was with, Cubana Lust, was not very happy about the video being leaked, which she expressed in her own retaliatory video.

That is a rare case though; sex tapes have the biggest impact for up and coming stars, or “I remember when”-type stars that have since been forgotten in the ever changing bulbs of media spotlight.

The biggest sex tape to success story is most definitely the Ray J and Kim Kardashian love tape released in 2007. Although Kim tried to sue at first, when adult film company Vivid Entertainment paid Kim $5 Million for rights to the tape, she settled. The tape ignited the careers of both parties involved. Ray J has since had a hit single, ‘Sexy Can I”, and a mega popular “reality” TV show, For The Love of Ray J. Kim also got a reality TV show, and has been spotted scantily dressed on numerous men’s magazine covers, among them, Playboy.

Paris Hilton is another “star” to reach a higher plateau with the release of her night vision sex-tape with ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon. I sure as hell never heard of her prior to the sex-tape leaking, and not knowing who Paris Hilton is at this present time is unheard of. I can’t flip five channels without seeing her paper thin frame on my television, or stand in line at Safeway without her looking back at me from a gossip magazine. What does she do anyway? I mean, I know she is the daughter of the hotel guy, and she is dumb ass rich, but besides that I mean? Oh well, nobody probably cares. And if it wasn’t for her infamous sex-tape, she wouldn’t even be a distant thought in most folks' imaginations.

The leading woman of all celebrity sex-tapes is Pamela Anderson, the blonde lady from Baywatch -- an old broad who, by way of homemade video, kept her name ringing in the ears of countless lonely men on not one, but two occasions. To her credit, her tape with rock star Tommy Lee was one of the earliest tapes to leak online and most likely started the trend that we continue to see until this day. This ultra famous tape was released in 1998 and was most talked about for its “boat scene”. Her next tape, with you guessed it: another rock star, was released on DVD on September 7th, 2005. This time, her co-star was rocker Brett Michaels, who like Ray J, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, ended up getting his own reality TV show on VH1 called Rock Of Love.

There is no talent necessary to be a reality TV star, and that’s why the fame gained from scandalous sex-tapes is a perfect starting point to sell a show to [insert cable channel here.] Nobody I mentioned will ever win an Oscar and they know this; they might as well use whatever they have to their advantage, right? I don’t suggest people use this strategy as a formula to stardom, but hey, it’s a hard road to the top.

 

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