Former OneTaste participants sue Netflix over ‘Orgasm Inc’ documentary
A group of 15 former participants of OneTaste — which has been accused of being an “orgasm cult” and has been investigated by the FBI — are suing Netflix over an upcoming documentary called “Orgasm Inc.”
The group claims that the film uses sexually explicit stolen footage, and they’re asking for a temporary restraining order.
OneTaste, which operated from 2005 to 2018, billed itself as a sexual wellness company and focused on orgasmic meditation (or “OM”).
The company’s controversial spiritual figurehead, Nicole Daedone, has been interviewed on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast — and her book, “Slow Sex,” is still up for sale on Goop’s site.
The suit — filed in Superior Court of California by former associates, students and/or employees of OneTaste — alleges that footage used in the documentary was stolen and distributed by a former videographer for the company.
According to the filing, the footage depicts “intimate body parts and acts of sexual intercourse,” as well as “nudity and intimate touching as part of instruction of OM’s concepts and methods,” plus, “intimate personal information that they never expected to be revealed outside the context of their OneTaste class.”
It also claims that before being filmed for classes, workshops or events, the group “executed documents acknowledging that the Events would be confidential,” and that OneTaste “obtained verbal agreement, and a ‘show of hands’ from all participants agreeing that the Event was conducted in a ‘safe space’ where intimate ideas and deep personal feelings could be discussed privately and confidentially without any fear or worry they would be publicly revealed.”
The filing also claims that the videographer signed a “Confidential and Proprietary Information Agreement,” but has defended himself by arguing that some of the plaintiffs in the case “are public figures.”
The doc is slated to start streaming on Saturday.
The group had previously sent a petition to Netflix, we reported.
The group is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction “allowing the Production to be distributed to Netflix’s subscribers,” but to “obscure/redact/blur all visual images depicting Plaintiffs.”
A rep for Netflix had no comment.
In an interview with the streaming giant’s site Tudum, the doc’s director Sarah Gibson, who co-directed with Sloane Klevin, states that: “The footage featured in our film was all legally obtained by us, and much was already public and had been distributed by OneTaste themselves, or on Youtube, or in past news reports. No one’s rights have been violated by the footage we used. When there was more sensitive footage included, we used it sparingly and took immense care and responsibility to edit and crop as to not exploit or sensationalize it.”
She continued, “It was important to convey the large numbers of people attending these activities and use the footage to provide context about the culture of the organization.”
Paul Nicholas Boylan, a lawyer for the group of former OneTasters, tells Page Six: “We don’t know what is going to end up in the doc. Netflix could tell us, but they are refusing to do so. They’ve acted in a way that does not inspire trust.”
He also states that the group is “not trying to stop [Netflix] from broadcasting what is newsworthy. What is not newsworthy is the public’s ability to identify people involved in this that did not consent for those images to be used in any way whatsoever.”
A bombshell 2018 report in Bloomberg claimed that some “former staffers and community members say OneTaste resembled a kind of prostitution ring — one that exploited trauma victims and others searching for healing.”
“In some members’ experiences, the company used flirtation and sex to lure emotionally vulnerable targets,” the report read. “It taught employees to work for free or cheap to show devotion. And managers frequently ordered staffers to have sex or OM with each other or with customers.”
OneTaste called the claims “outrageous.”
An FBI investigation was opened after the report.
