Every year, gay porn aficionados head to Chicago on Memorial Day weekend for the Grabby Awards (attendance surely helped by International Mr. Leather, which takes place the same weekend).  But, didya know that the Grabbys have a European cousin?  The Grabby Awards Europe will take place in Torremolinos, Spain April 20-23.  According to the press release, the show will “celebrate the best gay European porn stars, gay porn labels, movies and creative content of the year”.  Information on both the domestic and international awards can be found at GrabbyAwards.com.

We previously reported a story about an Italian man fired from his university job due to his past as a gay porn performer.  The man in question is sexy Carlo Masi, who made loads of films for Colt Studios.  His real name is Ruggero Freddi, and he was a teacher at the Sapienza University of Rome.  He claimed to have been fired without explanation and without pay for the work he had already done.  So he sued for what I consider a paltry amount – roughly $2,500 for the work he had done and $1,500 for “unjustified dismissal”.  You would think a smart defendant would pay the $4K and be done with it.  But this case actually went to trial – which he won.  “I hope my case gives courage to all PhD students who are exploited after years of studies and specializations,” said Carlo/Ruggero – except I suspect he said it in Italian.

Someone familiar with a foreign tongue is Ricky Martin, who has been dealing with a whole bunch of contentious issues for the past few years.  After settling things with his nephew (look it up), he had to deal with a $3 million commission suit from his former manager – a suit which promised to reveal “career-ending allegations”.  Martin settled this one out of court.  Since we hear his former manager is only receiving a five-figure payout, I guess those revelations weren’t as “career-ending” as alleged.