December 29, 2023

"My wife and I live in a country where we have a first amendment. We’re dealing with consensual adult sexuality. The regents are overreacting.”

"They’re certainly not adhering to their own commitment to free speech or the first amendment.... I got an email last night saying I was terminated. I wish I would have had the opportunity to have a hearing. When reasonable people understand what my wife and I are creating, it calms them down."

Said Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow, quoted in "Wisconsin university chancellor claims he was fired for appearing in porn videos/Joe Gow says that his free speech rights were violated after the Universities of Wisconsin board of regents decided to fire him" (The Guardian).
[Universities of Wisconsin president Jay] Rothman said in an email to the AP on Thursday morning that Gow failed to act as a role model for students, faculty and the community and mistakenly believes the first amendment equates to a “free pass to say or do anything that he pleases.”... Rothman added that Gow served at the pleasure of the regents and was not entitled to any specific process.... 
Gow and his wife star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors....

Gow came up once before on this blog, 5 years ago: "UW-La Crosse chancellor says he was 'naive' in booking porn star, will reimburse university."

94 comments:

tim in vermont said...

In loco parentis.

I think he may have mistranslated “loco” as Spanish instead of Latin.

Iman said...

How now Joe Gow?

RideSpaceMountain said...

"They also have written two ebooks, “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship”

In every single real-life case I've seen, the "benefits" end up outcompeting the "monogamy". Consuming pornography in marriage is one thing, but being flexible on monogamy means your monogamy won't last long. There are way too many husbands who don't get this when their wives understand it all too well.

There are little secrets and landmines buried in heterosexual relationships that will kill your marriage deader than disco, and "benefits" is one of them.

M said...

I should not be forced to employ someone who makes their private business public. If the courts side with the pervert that will really be the end of western civilization.

Gusty Winds said...

I found Gow and his wife's "Sexy Healthy Cooking" twitter page yesterday (@SexyHappyCouple). They do a 30 to 45 minute vegan cooking segment with a guest porn star (one of them know as Will Pounder...lol) and then film a sex scene after which @SexyHappyCouple says is available on Only Fans. They even published two books together, one titled "Married with Benefits".

How this was a secret from the Board of Regents I have no idea. It was openly promoted over the last year at least.

tommyesq said...

Gow and his wife star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors....

That's even weirder than anything I would have thought of.

MadTownGuy said...

"We’re dealing with consensual adult sexuality. The regents are overreacting.”
"They’re certainly not adhering to their own commitment to free speech or the first amendment....
"

Oh boo hoo. It's conduct unbecoming. I wonder if he fought for free speech on campus for anyone who dared to contradict Th Narrative®.

R C Belaire said...

How do these people even get hired?

Yeah, I know -- stupid question.

Wince said...

Gow and his wife star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors....

General Gow’s dickin’?

Gusty Winds said...

Former Chancellor Gow's wife and co-star, Carmen Wilson, is an administrator and professor and UW La Crosse. I read she was part of the search committee that hired Gow and they married soon after. Her name seems to be kept out of this at the moment, but she is in all the cooking and other videos.

I find it quite rich that Gow is claiming is free speech rights are being violated. We all know liberal college campuses don't practice free speech and are central censorship hubs.

He does have a point. I'm sure there are UW Madison Faculty and other employees participating in the naked bicycle parades. None of them have been fired. And that's in public in front of kids. At least with the Vegan Hammer and his wife you have to search for it a little.

Let's enjoy this for the collegiate liberal UW hilarity that it is. Who really gives a shit? But it is funny.

Yancey Ward said...

Skip eating the sausage, though.

Yancey Ward said...

Willing to bet, though, this guy would want to fire any university employee who wrote an op-ed about how the 2020 election was stolen or supported razing Gaza to the dirt.

mccullough said...

The ex-chancellor needs a lawyer.

BarrySanders20 said...

That same porn star is one he and his wife cook with now. There;s a stpory about this is the Milwaukee newspaper today. They do fly their freak flag, but the story actually humanizes the matter and they are somewhat sympathetic. Funny what gets university regents all hot and bothered. Overt racism and political leftism is policy, but private consensual sex by an employee (OK, he's chancellor of a UW satellite campus) makes them hysterical. I sort of find that hysterical, and I don't even have a womb.

Gusty Winds said...

When reasonable people understand what my wife and I are creating, it calms them down.

I didn't venture to find the porn videos, but I did watch some of the cooking with porn starts segments on their twitter page and the food looked pretty good.

Gospace said...

I'm sure Joe Gow feels the same way about conservatives, that should be able to freely express themselves on campus without fear of repercussions.

Or maybe not...

Skeptical Voter said...

He and his wife want to be porn stars. When there's a market for geriatric porn he and his wife can come out to the San Fernando Valley--ground central for the US porn industry. The weather's nice and his naked buns will never freeze in the snow. And they won't have very far to go to find more dinner guests for their cooking videos.

Krumhorn said...

"They also have written two ebooks, “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship”

In every single real-life case I've seen, the "benefits" end up outcompeting the "monogamy". Consuming pornography in marriage is one thing, but being flexible on monogamy means your monogamy won't last long. There are way too many husbands who don't get this when their wives understand it all too well.

There are little secrets and landmines buried in heterosexual relationships that will kill your marriage deader than disco, and "benefits" is one of them.


This is an example of why I enjoy the comments here of RideSpaceMountain. Succinct and well-written.

- Krumhorn

ga6 said...

The over-educated stupid.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I should not be forced to employ someone who makes their private business public. If the courts side with the pervert that will really be the end of western civilization.

Yep two good valid statements by M. Unnecessarily introducing a sexual component to education in any way is wrong. That he repeatedly has trouble keeping his private life out of his public duties suggests to me he deserves to be fired.

Jake said...

This is dumb AF. Gow wants OnlyFans $$. Too bad he and his wife don’t look so good fu*king.

Rich said...

These folks need some advice from the GOP’s leading candidate. If anyone is capable of somehow making an affair with a porn star into a non-story, it's Donald Trump. Melania was at home with a four month old baby… a real family man.

Mr Wibble said...

A quick search pulls up a couple of the videos, and it's pretty low-quality stuff. I wonder about the porn stars in those episodes: do they see it as a real gig, or more akin to when William Shatner gets paid to appear in some Star Trek fan film shot in a dude's basement?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Damn I hate to disagree with the awesome BarrySanders20 but the phrase private consensual sex hardly fits all the public promotion they (both are employees of UW) engage in to drive private visits to their porn channel. That and he's been reprimanded before for bringing porn actors in as paid lecturers and ritually said his obviously insincere mea culpas. If these people ever actually kept their private lives truly private then we wouldn't know about it, would we?

Chuck said...

The guy is a journalism grad and a speech communications Ph.D., and he doesn't know that "First Amendment" is always capitalized?

I'd like to know what Althouse thinks about the prospects for the inevitable litigation. And also, critically, whether/how UW system faculty rules should govern any termination proceedings. Is it possible that proceedings have been going on longer than has been reported in the media?

Here, FIRE discusses the latest in 1A/employment litigation in higher education settings. This case seems like a close call, without clear 7th Circuit guidance.

Wa St Blogger said...

Wince,

You owe me a new keyboard.

Lilly, a dog said...

'Gow and his wife star in a YouTube channel called “Sexy Healthy Cooking” in which the couple cooks meals with porn actors....'

That's misleading. I watched one of the YouTube videos--'"Pork" Chops and Hominy with India Summer.' The YouTube site are shortened PG versions of their LoyalFans/OnlyFans videos, where they have sex with the porn stars after cooking. Toward the end of the YT video there is a direct link for the full hardcore scene. He's hiring porn stars to fuck him and his wife, and distributing the videos to make money.

He and his wife are very creepy in the video, but India Summer looks great.

Sarah Palin's Uterus said...

These people are being held to the standard *they* demanded, and [spoiler alert] they don't like it one bit.

They wanted "harmful" speech suppressed and condemned.

But once the definition of "speech" gets expanded beyond deliberately expressed words to include everything from silence (violence!) to subjective feelings experienced by third parties to one's choice of associates (complicity/endorsement!), literally every single facet of your life becomes fair game.

Who could possibly have foreseen this???

Kevin said...

"My wife and I live in a country where we have a first amendment.

Which country is that?

I would consider moving there.

JAORE said...

And, if I read correctly, he's still on the faculty.

n.n said...

Self-employment with personal liability for risk is the answer.

n.n said...

Get a womb? Wombs are rented at discount rates in politically congruent cultures. You've come a long way, baby... fetus.

walter said...

UW and 1st amendment? Ha!

walter said...

Sounds more like a cucking show.

Gusty Winds said...

Joe Gow's salary increased from $247,661 to $262,719 in 2022. Even now he get demoted to a tenured professor position. I'm sure his six figure pension is safe.

This dude ran a university in a fun party town, made a quarter million plus a year, and made porn videos with his wife and some pretty hot porn stars. La Crosse WI by the river is awesome. Bars, restaurants and live music like Bourbon Street.

Part of me wants to high-five the guy.

Joe Gow is living a liberal grifter's American dream.

Ann Althouse said...

"This dude ran a university in a fun party town, made a quarter million plus a year, and made porn videos with his wife and some pretty hot porn stars. La Crosse WI by the river is awesome."

Yeah, I like La Crosse.

rehajm said...

"This dude ran a university in a fun party town, made a quarter million plus a year, and made porn videos with his wife and some pretty hot porn stars. La Crosse WI by the river is awesome."

Yeah, I like La Crosse


There’s something very Fargo/David Lynch about all y’all…

Howard said...

Filed under cancel culture we like

Crimso said...

"Part of me wants to high-five the guy."

Be sure you wear latex gloves.

Quaestor said...

I'd like to see his contract before passing judgment on this self-centered twerp.

That said, we've been over this ground a thousand times before. I vaguely recall the hoo-haw surrounding Larry Flynt and his distasteful magazine, Hustler. Flynt styled himself a First Amendment martyr, admittedly a more noble calling than sleazy pornographer, a dodge eagerly embraced the sleazy ex-Chancellor Gow.

Real First Amendment martyrs aren't troubled by their own speech but by the oppressed speech of others they valiantly defend.

Owen said...

Krumhorn @ 1:14: "...This is an example of why I enjoy the comments here of RideSpaceMountain. Succinct and well-written..."

Agree. Not just RideSpaceMountain, by any means. Lots of smart, funny, experienced people.

Temujin said...

Now I understand what they mean when singing “On Wisconsin”.

BarrySanders20 said...

Ha! Mike is right - not sure how I typed private when its anything but. Still consensual and he's out because it's embarrassing to the U. Embarrass the lefties who control the place and out the door with ya.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Skeptical Voter said...

He and his wife want to be porn stars. When there's a market for geriatric porn...

What makes you think there isn't?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Skeptical Voter said...

He and his wife want to be porn stars. When there's a market for geriatric porn...

What makes you think there isn't?

Left Bank of the Charles said...

I like The Telegraph’s headline: “US university chancellor sacked for vegan porn videos”. Not just porn, vegan porn.

Oligonicella said...

He has freedom of speech.

They have freedom of association.

Many of the loudest shouters about the former willingly try to squelch the latter.

Unknown said...

Is the Board empowered to fire “without cause”? If so, he gets no hearing.

Of course he can sue . . .

Rocco said...

Do they use extra virgin olive oil?
How about those little minature sausages?
Kielbasa?
Gherkins?
Nut butter?
Muffuletta?
Memphis dry rub?
(Cincinnati) three way?
Something as simple as a hotdog in a bun?

Have they ever mentioned a bun in the oven?

Does the "With Benefits" part include saying "screw it" to cooking and call for a pizza delivery guy to bring a box with a big slab inside?

mezzrow said...

"Part of me wants to high-five the guy.

Joe Gow is living a liberal grifter's American dream."


Now they're victims, too. It just gets better every day.

Paul said...

Porno movie ... seriously??? A university Chancellor??

Most universities have something about integrity and morals in their charter/guide.

But obviously he has no morals nor integrity.

He was not doing a speech...

gspencer said...

"Hey, look at my boner" is probably not the best way for the chancellor of a public college to behave.

who-knew said...

I read his statement and all I could think was he should have just posted this clip of George Costanza:
https://youtu.be/Td67kYY9mdQ?si=KRuLpMAoI6-a0bHS
Was that wrong?

stutefish said...

Dude conveniently forgets that the first amendment also covers freedom of association.

Will Cate said...

It may be (almost) 2024, but having a side-hustle in the sexual entertainment business is still incongruous with a few professions, mainly preaching, teaching and politicking. Gusty Winds put it perfectly -- "Joe Gow is living a liberal grifter's American dream"

Bob Boyd said...

NSFW

Aggie said...

Free Speech and Free Enterprise are two different things - but having your employment terminated by the regents on the basis of either one of them has nothing to do with the First Amendment.

Aggie said...

And if the cooking show starts devoting porn time to 'browning techniques' I don't want to know about it.

n.n said...

Transcellor, social, that is.

n.n said...

Next thing you know, there will be open acts of sodomy on the legislature floor. Performance of human rites in protest of human rights, equal, and inclusive.

Big Mike said...

Just what any university needs — a chancellor who is also a porn producer on a campus full of pretty, legal-aged, co-eds.

Mary Beth said...

reasonable people

Anyone who doesn't approve of what I do is unreasonable.

Betaraytony said...

One of the first things I learned, is that each us is the “public face” of any organization we are a part of. As such, if we value our team, we should never present ourselves in a way that can bring discredit or embarrassment to our organization. This means that sometimes we have to put aside our private preferences, or at least keep them private for the good of the team.

The Chancellor is putting his personal pleasures ahead of the good of the organization he is charged to lead.

gilbar said...

isn't an as-f*cking, c*ck-sucking, prostitute EXACTLY who we WANT to have running our schools?
What's Gow's position on genital mutilation? oh, SORRY i mean gender affirming care?

robother said...

Old and busted: In Loco Parentis
New and Hot: Just plain Loco

Another old lawyer said...

Man, between this guy and the woman at Harvard, pretty much anyone can get hired to head a university.

gilbar said...

So, Gow is ALL for Free Speech at UWLC..
How about Free Speech for a Professor that doesn't espouse gender mutilation..
Sorry i mean gender affirming care

Iman said...

The fuckin’ he gets for the fuckin’ he got.

Big Mike said...

OTOH, it crosses my perverted mind that having a porn producer as chancellor could help some of those co-eds get a start on paying off their student loans, and establish themselves in a potentially lucrative career that perhaps they had not been thinking of.

(Yes, I'm joking!)

BUMBLE BEE said...

This is WAY beyond "Stormy Daniels" shit.
Remember the "Outrage"?

roger said...

......an affair with a porn star into a non-story, it's Donald Trump.....

Rich, you simply cannot resist dragging Trump into any story.

Deranged much?

Mason G said...

"My wife and I live in a country where we have a first amendment. We’re dealing with consensual adult sexuality. The regents are overreacting.”

The first two are certainly true. The third could also be, but who knows for sure?

Mr. T. said...

The pedantic, insipid whining that excretes from the higher ed leftwing apparatchik is truly nauseating. No one is violating this POS, corrupt clown's freedom of speech or academic freedom!

This was his own side business, so there is nothing intrinsically pedagogically valuable or relevant that would apply to academic freedom.

His freedom of speech too was not in anyway curtailed. He and his wife are free to resign their neopotism-created UW jobs and make porn on their own. In fact he is already getting a golden parachute faculty position, already on top of his wife (haha!)having gotting his current corrupt spousal hire position. Only in hackademia do you get to complain for falling upwards.

Gow and his wife sound like creepy leftwing kiddie porn judge Brett Blomme arguing that "because it's sooooooo stressful being a gay man, i should be able to get my groomer jollies by watching pre-adolescents get raped and tortured; oh and since i was in my judge chamber, i was on the job and the taxpayers should pay me for watching little boy bondage!"

Proof positive that a law is required that all future college/university hires from now on must be subject to voter/taxpayer approval.

Josephbleau said...

"Yeah, I like La Crosse."

I like Stevens Point better, due to their Paper Engineering Program.

Can we have a porn star as a University Chancellor? only if we re-define Chancellor. What are the 18 year old coeds supposed to think?

traditionalguy said...

Makes sense. The Universities teach many fantasy courses labeled Studies. They are produers of fantasy lust. Just add Studies to that.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"Please tell me that's all you're gonna do with it..."

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Rich-

You know who likes to enrich himself with washed clean tax payer dollars and Ukrainian/Barisma "board" money and screw hookers while high on crack?

Crook Joe Biden's 'above the law' son.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Sweet and Smokey Tempeh with porn star

Rusty said...

I apologise. I read his name as Joe Grow.
Which is an awsome name for a porn star.

tim in vermont said...
In loco parentis.
Or......
I got a loco penis.

iowan2 said...

Rich @1:38 is throwing stones from his glass outhouse

Don't have to go back 2 decades to find a comparable.

Democrats are partial to picking up tourists and cornholing them in Senate hearing rooms . . AND recording it all, posting it all over the interwebs. In a bit of hubris the Dem Senate Staffer claimed victim status for all the flack...just because of who he loves . . . A tourist from a foreign country the Staffer had never met, until he said hello to his brown eye.

Dave Begley said...

Great comments!

n.n said...

Can we have a porn star as a University Chancellor? only if we re-define Chancellor. What are the 18 year old coeds supposed to think?

Take a knee, VP. Bend over for progress. Rent a womb for "=" and inclusive. Abort a "burden" to remain affordable, available, reusable, and taxable.

Nice said...

"kept their private lives truly private then we wouldn't know about it, would we?"

Even if the whole University knew about it, and it was an open secret, that would be fine. Awkward, but fine. That's not what he was fired for. He was fired for using his Campus position to promote a sketchy side business.

iowan2 said...

A chancellor of a college is making porn for cash. Unsavory. But a bad role model, yes?

I saw something earlier today that caught my attention even more.

The Memphis v Iowa State bowl game in Memphis, had wrapped up. Memphis was celebrating their win, and I spotted one of their down lineman, firing up a big fat cigar. Not satisfied, the same lineman with the same cigar, was front and center accepting the big trophy.

My question? Who is in worse trouble.

n.n said...

Free peach without speech.

Rocco said...

Jessica Rabbit (1988): “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.

Joe Gow (2023): “I’m not bad, I just cook that way.

Tina Trent said...

Where does he find the time?

Oh, that's right. University poo-bahs take summers -- and most of the rest of the time -- off, even as they're paid enormous salaries. In the case of a Chancellor, he is representing the University all of the time, no matter how little actual work he does.

Do you think the University would choose to hire someone to be his 9-5 peon secretary, or a dorm custodian, if she put on her resume that she worked as a stripper after hours?

It's the double standards that are the real perversion.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Hunter Biden refused to testify under oath as requested by congress.

Tarrou said...

Expressing a political opinion from the right half of the country: Not protected speech at a university.

Uploading homemade porn to the internet: Fight the power!


Always interesting to see where these degen academics draw the line.

Mr. Forward said...

Cucky Badger.

Mr. Majestyk said...

"General Gow's dickin'"?

I winced when I read that.

mikee said...

Years of admirable teaching, but they only remember that one goat in the parking lot....

This guy is living a punchline to a bad joke.

Rusty said...

Mr. Majestyk said...
"General Gow's dickin'"?

"I winced when I read that."
And laughed too, I bet.

talk about screwing the pooch.
He rates a nine out of ten on ther "fuck around and find out" scale.

Joe Bar said...

We ate at a surprisingly good Cajun restaurant in LaCrosse. What the neck was THAT doing there?

Perhaps this crew had something to do with it.