Wisconsin university chancellor fired for filming porn videos with his wife

UW says Joe Gow and wife Carmen Wilson’s porn videos subjected it to ‘significant reputational harm’

A University of Wisconsin (UW) chancellor has been fired for filming “abhorrent” porn videos with his wife and posting them online.

UW-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow, 63, was unanimously terminated by the board of regents on Wednesday after it recently discovered he and wife Carmen Wilson were posting adult videos on OnlyFans under the name Sexy Happy Couple.

The couple have run accounts on X/Twitter and YouTube since 2018 describing themselves as a “passionate plant-powered couple” who are into “cooking, conversing, and shooting with top adult video stars”.

The accounts encourage users to visit their LoyalFans and OnlyFans sites for “fully explicit scenes”.

Mr Gow, who was disciplined in 2018 for inviting a former porn actress to speak on campus, has also written pseudonymous books with his wife about their experiences in the porn industry. The couple’s faces are clearly shown on book covers and on the social media accounts.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow was fired after the university discovered he was posting porn videos on X-rated sites (University of Wisconsin)

In a statement, UW President Jay Rothman said: “In recent days, we learned of specific conduct by Dr Gow that has subjected the university to significant reputational harm. His actions were abhorrent.”

Mr Rothman said the former chancellor has been placed on administrative leave while it reviewed his status as a tenured member of faculty and an outside law firm has been hired to investigate.

UW regent president Karen Walsh said in a statement Mr Gow had “shown a reckless disregard for the role he was entrusted”.

“The outrage over his behaviour is evidenced by the unanimous vote by the UW Board of Regents to terminate him as chancellor. We are alarmed, and disgusted, by his actions, which were wholly and undeniably inconsistent with his role as chancellor.”

Mr Gow told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after his firing that his right to explore his sexuality by creating books and videos was protected by free speech under the First Amendment.

“There’s nothing said about the University of Wisconsin; there’s nothing said about the chancellor (on the videos). So someone else would have to make those associations. And then someone would have to say those are problematic,” he said.

He told the newspaper he recently decided to be more open about his porn exploits, and created the videos in his own time and expense.

Mr Gow added he had been blindsided by Wednesday’s closed-door meeting, and been denied due process.

The University of Wisconsin has fired a chancellor for filming adult videos with his wife (Associated Press)

Mr Gow had served as chancellor at the university since 2007, and planned to retire at the end of the year.

He was denied a pay increase in 2018 after paying adult actress Nina Hartley $5,000 from a discretionary university fund for a 90-minute speech at the La Crosse campus.

He later apologised for Ms Hartley’s appearance and repaid the $5,000 to the university.

Mr Gow and his wife have posted six videos on OnlyFans, and also appear in X-rated clips on PornHub and XHamster, according to the Journal Sentinel. The videos appear to have been posted in the last two months.

On their YouTube account, the couple share cooking videos with porn stars including Ms Hartley, India Summer and Lauren Phillips.

In 2018, they published the book Married with Benefits: Our Real-life Adult Industry Adventures under the pseudonyms Geri and Jay Hart.

An author bio states that the married pair “serve in executive positions at two well-known organisations in the US” and enjoy collaborating with adult performers to create their own “upscale pornographic videos”.