Adult film star Nikki Benz was handed a significant loss when the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, announced its decision in the Tony T versus Nikki Benz case last week.
Benz had appealed her trial court anti-SLAPP motion loss from 2017, when she attempted to
strike Tony T’s claims for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The case began with Twitter allegations by Benz and claims of assault and rape at a December
2016 shoot for porn giant Brazzers that was directed by Tony T.
Shortly after Nikki Benz published a series of accusatory tweets, Brazzers announced that it had
fired Tony T for allegedly violating its shooting rules during the creation of “Nikki Goes Nuts,”
a hardcore sex scene also featuring top male performer Ramon Nomar. The scene involved a
mask, sex toys, slapping, and anal sex.
Tony T denied Benz’s allegations, and the crew submitted affidavits in support of Tony T and
his version of the shoot activities.
Now, the Court of Appeal has found that the trial court correctly denied Nikki Benz’s anti-
SLAPP motion because Tony T had successfully established his “prima facie case of libel per
se” regarding the rape allegation made on Twitter.
The court found that a reasonable interpretation of Benz’s tweets is that she was accusing Tony T
of rape, and that her own “self-serving declaration about how to interpret her tweets cannot
control.” In her appeal, Nikki argued that her “statements were substantially true” and that her
tweets were “mere opinion.” The court disagreed with that reasoning and consequently affirmed
Tony T’s superior court victory, and awarded him costs.
Tony T expressed great relief at the court decision and thanked his attorneys, “This has been a
crazy experience and has been brutal for me. I want to get back in to court and show all the
evidence about the shoot to the judge and jury.”
Now, the civil case returns to the trial court where the related case of Nikki Benz v. Brazzers
which had been stayed, will also resume in Los Angeles Superior Court.
A link to the court website: https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions-nonpub.htm
