The entrance to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Credit: Flickr via U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers Los Angeles District)
Ten years after a pornographic film titled “The Gangbang Girl #32” was released, details about its filming location is making some USC students giggle -- and others question how the movie got made in the first place.
That’s because the film, which was shot in 2001 and released in 2002, was filmed at the Coliseum, the home field of USC’s football team. It just so happens that the same year of the film's debut, the Trojans returned to the national spotlight with a Heisman Trophy winner and an eleven-win season.
But before any of that, the film, which was released in March of 2002 by Anabolic Video, was home to "group sex on the gridiron turf," as described by the Los Angeles Times. The movie features a football team complete with pads, helmets, jerseys and cheerleaders.
Nick Cimarusti, an English and Spanish double major at USC, finds the story quite comical.
“I do think it's funny,” Cimarusti said. “At least they kept in theme with the venue.”
Giovanni Osorio, a senior English major, was not affected in the slightest by the news.
“Oh gosh,” he said. “I don’t even care about this porno.”
Others, however, say there's a larger, overarching issue: The management of the Coliseum and the unanswered question of how the film company got into the stadium.
“I think it’s sort of outrageous,” said Alden Weiss, who graduated from the university in May. “There’s no way you can break into the Coliseum.”
Prior to USC’s gaining ownership of the historic stadium earlier this month, the Coliseum was owned by the public and was run by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which has taken heat in recent years over allegations of corruption.
In March, the Los Angeles Times reported: “The Coliseum had become mired in conflicts of interest, spending irregularities and loose accounting that eroded its fiscal foundation and had all but bankrupted its future as one of the nation's most-storied public landmarks.”
Pornography is just the latest scandal to rock the Los Angeles fixture.
Some students blame the Coliseum Commission for allowing this sort of thing to occur under their watch.
“This doesn’t surprise me,” said Osorio. “It just shows that [the Coliseum’s] been a mess since 2002 and before that.”
Cimarusti expressed similar sentiments.
“I think whoever managed security back then must not have had a very tight hold on what goes on at the Coliseum outside of normal operating hours,” he said. “So [USC is probably] a better choice to be in charge since it can't afford to have these sort of mishaps.”
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum didn't reply after multiple attempts to reach them.
