Clearly, not enough people have any idea of what kind of sickness reigns in Max Hardcore videos. CNBC was more interested in exploiting Little's reputation rather than denouncing it. "He's the dirtiest man in America," they cooed in a promo, emphasizing the naughty fun, not the temptation to vomit.
In promoting her smutty documentary, the audaciously ambitious Lee played up the centrality of porn to American pop culture. "It's as mainstream as [NBC's] Must-See TV," she proclaimed on her regular CNBC show "Fast Money." NBC should have fired her on the spot for comparing their shows to "Golden Guzzlers 7."
CNBC's porn extravaganza offered just two brief interruptions from porn critics. Pat Trueman appeared about halfway into the hour to explain how porn can be illegal. Recovered porn addict Michael Leahy appeared briefly to explain how his porn habit ruined his marriage and his relationship with his sons.
But viewers mostly saw a parade of pornographic product placement and cordial interviews with a series of porn-makers, including porn star-slash-Oklahoma mom "Jesse Jane," whose 9-year-old son doesn't yet know "exactly" what his mother does for a living. The supposedly saddest moment is porn CEO Steven Hirsch lamenting that all the free-porn websites are killing his profits, and with the suspicion that free sites are pirating his films, "now we have to spend money policing the Internet." Cue the violins.
CNBC is the Consumer News and Business Channel, and what this has to do with news or business is beyond me. They're trying to shore up their dreadfully low prime time numbers by celebrating all kinds of sleazy money-making schemes, and saying -- and can't you just hear this -- "it's a business like any other!" CNBC has also recently aired specials on prostitution, and on the marijuana business. This kind of special is the prostituting of journalism; this compares to "business news" about the same way that Nancy Grace's lurid crime interviews compare to hard news.
Shame on CNBC for making no attempt to police the porn industry. Instead, viewers were urged to buy the documentary on DVD with "more [porn] star extras." If porn is just a business like any other, can we expect the next CNBC special to focus on sugar beet growers, or bicycle makers? I think everyone knows the answer.