Instead she found a "small bedroom" with a "double bed, iridescent purple sheets," a "crate holding cheap and fruity-flavored rum, whiskey, tequila and Kool-Aid," and "lubricants, condoms, sex toys in plastic bags, baby oil, a DVD called How To Be a Player and a clipboard full of waivers for girls to sign."
The dangers of liquid courage.
What's on tape is a zoomed-in shot of Szyszka's driver's license, illustrating her legal-to-humiliate-status, and, of course, some flattering cameos of Szyszka slightly less than with-it visage complete with "nails chipped" and "eyes coated with makeup." Straight out of The Accused, minus the filmed gang rape.
The exact details of Janeel's on-screen appearance are salacious, predictable, and sad as she admits she's a virgin and the acts she's engaged in are physically uncomfortable to her.
According to follow up conversations between Szyszka and reporter Hoffman, Francis excused the cameraman and "pushed [Szyszka] back on the bed, undid his jeans and climbed on top of her."
"I said 'No' twice in the beginning," Szyszka said, and, "'Oh, my god, it hurts.' I kept telling him it hurt, but he kept going, and he said he was sorry but kissed me so I wouldn't keep talking."
Skip the cuddling, spooning, and post-coital repose and go directly to the paper-towel clean up, here's-your-free-t-shirt, don't-tell-a-soul, hit-the-road-biyatch spiel all young no-longer-virgins love to hear.
When Hoffman questioned Francis about this incident – which he emphatically denied ever occurred – there were expletives, threats of lawsuits, nails going into coffins, and someone laughing last.
An email message from Francis' lawyer state, contrary to his original claim, that Francis and Szyszka did, indeed, have sex, "consensual sex," but neither Francis nor anyone affiliated with Girls Gone Wild gave her any alcohol.
The email also notes "neither Mr. Francis nor any of the GGW staff in or around the bus recall Ms. Szyszka making any complaint or comment about Mr. Francis," and, "in fact, Ms. Szyszka was in good spirits after the encounter, and numerous witnesses have stated that she danced with her friends outside the bus for nearly two hours afterward."
As for Ms. Szyszka's virginal status, the lawyer added proudly, "Though Mr. Francis cannot speak to Ms. Szyszka's discomfort during the encounter, other news stories have commented that Mr. Francis is reputedly well-endowed."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Thurston
Hold the phone. You mean to tell me none of these alcoholic girls are to blame? It's not like the guys has magic powers. They're wasted and do this stupid crap for attention.
2 - Dawn
Yes, that's true. But are you saying there is no complicity in providing alcohol, creating an environment where the girls feel pressured and then making a profit that is not shared with the amatuer performer? Does that really seem fair?
Like I said, the issue isn't the videos, which are repulsive and disgusting, but Joe Francis being a vile, repugnant pig inserting himself (literally) into the process.
You can't see the moral issues with that?
3 - Michael J. West
The "alcoholic girl" Janeel Szyszka is to blame for Joe Francis raping her?
4 - Thurston
I think people are responsible for their own actions largely. I'm not defending Joe Francis, but I think sober and intelligent people would steer clear of him.
5 - deepti lamba
Gawd, what a sleaze ball. He is like a wolf preying on the dumb sheep....Back in college a friend of mine got so drunk that she didnt remember that she had gone up a hotel room with a male acquaintance and had been missing for over an hour.
We obviously assumed the worst had happened.
Michael, while men too can get raped why is it that rarely do we hear of date rapes where men have been the victims?
6 - DJRadiohead
It is certainly true if all of the girls in these videos were sober and home studying they would not find their hoo-has splashed all over late night TV. Getting drunk out of your mind is a stupid thing to do and can lead to some humiliating and sometimes tragic consequences.
Joe Francis may have the legal right to exploit the lack of judgment exibited by these girls (not including the part where he allegedly threatens them and rapes them, naturally) but he is a complete son of a bitch for doing it. Just because he can doesn't mean he should. There are gaps between legal and moral. What Francis does is morally repugnant.
7 - Matthew T. Sussman
Eye for an eye: Pants him and his cameraman, videotape them touching each other, sell it.
8 - Dave Nalle
Are you telling me all the girls in these videos aren't actually all whores and strippers? Hmmm....does that make the videos more appealing or less.
Dave
9 - Dawn
Gee Dave, I don't even know how to respond to that? Please tell me you were kidding.
10 - Bryan
Eye for an eye: Pants him and his cameraman, videotape them touching each other, sell it.
No, Suss, an eye for an eye would be to get Joe Francis liquored up and then rape him repeatedly. Not that I'd condone it, but he's guilty of a lot more than just exploitation.
And, Dave, I second Dawn's response. What do you mean?
11 - Dave Nalle
Yes Dawn, I was being sarcastic.
Dave
12 - Dawn
Whew, I was worried there for a second Dave. Sarcasm is hard to interpret in pixels ;)
13 - Lady Dragonfyre
I don't even think the word "misogynist" is strong enough. Deplorable!
He probably liquors them up so they won't remember how much he sucked in bed. The only girls he can attract are empty-headed teenagers with no respect for themselves.
That being said, she chose to take that first drink. Whether her assumption about Girls Gone Wild stemmed from the liquor or her stupidity, we cannot ignore the fact that she put herself in a very vulnerable position.
14 - Victor Plenty
Aside from any criminal guilt, the moral guilt is shared by everyone who has ever paid money to Joe Francis for his "productions." His undeserved wealth is what gives him the power to abuse young women so easily and with so few consequences. The morally repugnant way he has acquired his wealth makes it clear he is the type to abuse, even if he is found not guilty in any specific case.
The real danger sign for our society is not the existence of Joe Francis, as disgusting and pathetic as he is. Every society has scum like him. Giving him the freedom to be scum (if he can control himself well enough to avoid breaking the law) may be an unavoidable price we pay for enjoying the freedom to make our own moral choices.
The far more serious symptom of our societal decay is that so many of our fellow citizens eagerly pay him to exploit young women.
15 - Jim
Once again, these dumb girls think they can take things just so far and everyone will stop when they say so. This poor virgin thought that she was just going to flash and get a T-Shirt. I think flashing to get a T-shirt puts a woman in a differnet category. Don't drink and wander off with a guy that makes videos call "Girls Gone Wild". Come on, everybody knows what those videos are about these days. I am surprised a girl would even go into a place that these guys are at. After all, they park the bus with a banner on the side of it right in from of the bar. Sometimes they even advertise ahead of time that these guy are going to be there. I guess my point is that if you don't want to fall into the pit, don't step over the line that everyone knows it there.
16 - Victor Plenty
A crime is a crime even if the victim is stupid.
Waving your wallet around in a high crime zone makes it more likely you will get mugged, but anybody who robs you should still go to prison for it.
The same principle applies here. Rape is still a crime even if it happened after the victim made a bad decision by entering a sexual predator's lair, and the rapist still deserves to go to prison.
17 - duane
There's no doubt about that Victor. I think Jim is making a separate point. Of course, waving your wallet around in a Milan train station is perfectly legal, but it's perfectly stupid, too. You play around with snakes and eventually you'll get bitten.
18 - Victor Plenty
The point would be separate, if casting blame on the victim were not so frequently used as a tactic for allowing a rapist or abuser to evade responsibility for his crimes.
Nobody argues that a mugger gains a legal right to take your wallet without criminal culpability, just because you were stupid enough to flash your cash in a bad neighborhood. In that case it might be a separate point.
But in the crime of rape, the cultural habit and the morally bankrupt tactic of blaming the victim has not yet become fully separable from the legality of the rapist's actions.
19 - Mistress La Spliffe
These girls are 18. They're kids . . . insecure idiot kids, drinking like idiot insecure kids . . . and if you don't see something wrong with sexually and financially exploiting idiot insecure kids, then I hope to Jesus you never have any yourself because you'll do an awful job with them. In fact, I hope you're never allowed around them. Revolting.
20 - Mat Brewster
My bosses daughter did a flash dance for GGW. She's on the cover of one of the videos, and I periodically see her on late night/early morning TV. The boss has been embarassed ever since.
I knew the guy was a sick bastard, but had no idea it was this bad.
21 - froggy57
Because we are a society that worships youth and beauty, young, attractive, and naive people flock to the cameras. The woods are full of predators. That is our human nature. We are predators. The bottom of the food chain preys on naive young people.
People who track the predators, are predators in their own right. People who write about them and pretend to be so horrified are also predators. Preying on the predators.
One could not exist without the other. So "Pull down thy vanity."
Apologies to Ezra Pound.
22 - duane
And I suppose you're preying on those who prey on the predators?
23 - Mistress La Spliffe
Who in turn prey on predators of the predators of the drunk young things who, erm, prey on the camera? Oh those naughty predatorial 18 year olds! If I was a straight man I just wouldn't feel safe walking past a highschool! Hungry like the wolf, baby, like the wolf!
24 - Charlie O
Well now it pleases me to know that the guy who broke into Francis' house and did all that sick shit to him, was actually doing something called PAYBACK. Too bad he had to go to jail.
25 - Martin Lav
This is issue is much larger than GGW and the scumbag Joe Francis. Take a look at the "beverage" companies, the cities that promote spring break, the people that buy porn for the comfort of their own homes.....ALL OF US contribute to this society and it's norms. Joe Fransis is excercising and rationalizing his capitalistic right and we all give him the power to do so. Almost all of our "top" TV shows deal with public humiliation, so it's no wonder our kids are lining up down the block to humiliate themselves, all the while our "corporate sponsors" the alcohol companies keep them primed and ready. Meanwhile....back on the telli, Bob Dole will sell you a Viagra pill, the drug companies will sell you anything to "fix" your ailment and our Government will claim to legislate family values by preventing same sex unions.
We wonder why the Taliban won't go away.....
Yes Joe Fransis should be pointed out as a low-life scumbag that will sell his soul for his rights, but let's also acknowledge where the remaining fingers are pointing back at....and the problem is US.