TEXXXAS Fan Expo Lands at Cover Girls Houston

HOUSTON—The TEXXXAS fan expo has moved to Cover Girls Houston in the third and final venue change in two weeks, the event organizer confirmed Tuesday.John Gray, president of the inaugural TEXXXAS The Show, said the upscale gentlemen’s club would be rebranded for the expo as the Cover Girls Events Center.The sprawling venue will provide show goers 9500 square feet of space on the second floor where more than 30 adult film stars will be greeting their fans Aug. 17-20.The show had to be moved twice after two hotels cancelled plans to host the event due to ongoing public pressure from an anti-porn group. The Holiday Inn Southwest on July 27 cancelled its agreement with TEXXXAS on the heels of the original host hotel, the Hilton Houston Galleria, pulling out less than a week earlier.Gray said the Holiday Inn’s decision to drop his show came from its parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). He produced three adult-themed Lonestar Pornutopia events in the late 2000s—the most recent in 2009—without incident.The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and its executive director Dawn Hawkins issued press releases praising both the Hilton and Holiday Inn’s decisions to cancel, suggesting both were taking a stand against “sexual exploitation” and also attempting to link the Expo to “sex trafficking.”Gray said his show had nothing to do with either assertion.“I appreciate the support of all the Houston business owners that reached out to me to lend a helping hand,” Gray told AVN today ahead of a press conference at the Vivid Club where he was announcing the new location. “I had several places within minutes of the first hotel that reached out to host our event in their private events areas. So she’s wrong in thinking Houston does not want this event.”He continued, “I had to protect my sponsors and the fans of adult entertainment. We could’ve gone for a third time to another non-adult venue, but I chose not to because I owe it to my sponsors. Short of me buying a hotel, we can’t get kicked out of this location. I didn’t do it because I was forced to, I did it because I chose to protect our sponsors and fans.”The Cover Girls club is located at 10310 West Little York Road in Houston, 77041, about 15 miles from the show’s original location.“We run a legal business,” Gray added. “The adult entertainment business is legal here in Houston. We don’t show any nudity at our show. It’s a classy event. There’s more porn in ‘Game of Thrones’ on HBO than there is at our show.”Gray said not only is he bringing TEXXXAS to Cover Girls, he may produce other adult-themed events there in the future.“It’s great to have friends and you find out who your friends are in the time of need,” he said.With tongue in cheek, he said he may even send Hawkins a bouquet of flowers to thank her for generating so much publicity about the expo. He said the controversy made the front page of the New York Post and Drudge Report, among numerous other outlets. “I did nine TV and radio interviews in two hours [last week]. I appreciate all the publicity,” he said. “I want to tip my cap to her.”