On Wednesday, Max Konnor, a gay porn actor, tweeted a serious thought to his fans.

The tweet has since racked up over 500 favorites and replies, spurring an evolving conversation on the topic. But with responses from fellow porn actors like Austin Wolf and “Big C” pushing back, the incident emphasized the controversy within these dialogues.

“I was trying to find out how real and honest I could be with my fans,” Konnor told NewNowNext about why he initially posted the tweets.

Those fans number over 40,000 on Twitter, which around 650 of whom subscribe to his OnlyFans account for regular, exclusive adult content.

“A lot of times people will tweet on things I’m tagged in or to things I’ve tweeted on my actual page in reference to ‘oh yeah, take that BBC’ or ‘oh I can’t wait until I can get that BBC’ and to me, personally, the acronym, whenever I heard it, has always made me cringe. So when I posted that, it was just a personal tidbit of information saying when it’s said to me it’s a turn-off.”

Konnor isn’t alone.

A handful of followers, who happen to be black men, agreed. One posted screenshots from Grindr explaining how it just happened to him.

Another tweeter noted how he felt it was disrespectful and physically turned him off.

In contrast, in a now-deleted tweet, Austin chalked it up to the industry.

“We are quite literally paid to be objectified,” he wrote. “If you have a problem with your dick, race or any pots of your body or personality obejectified [sic], classified, insulted or criticized you are in the wrong business.”

Big C, a well-followed, amateur porn actor, also chimed in.

While Wolf did not respond to request for further comment, when asked to elaborate, Big C continued:

“Hot sex is about pushing limits, edging, and being naughty. Also roleplay is part of it. I’m not racist, but race play is hot and popular.”

But neither of those responses cut the mustard when it comes to this issue.

To be clear: Konnor put forth a personal preference for what he didn’t like to be called. As he explained in our interview, the situation could be likened to someone calling you “Mike” when your name and what you go by is “Michael.” Who pushes back on what someone else prefers to be called? The idea that “it’s a part of hot sex” is invalid if the person having the sex doesn’t find it hot.

But it’s also deeper than that.

“There’s a lot of things surrounding the acronym BBC," Konnor continued, "and it kind of places the black man aside and puts a veil up so the only thing that the black man can be seen for is a big black dick or a big black cock. And it fetishizes the black male.”

This feeling of fetishism holds true for an array of black men.

Objectification of a porn star on screen is part of the business. According to Konnor, that’s what they are paid for, and in fact, the more objectified they are, the more they are paid. But people should not be a fetish: To put them in a category of “other,” a proverbial box from which you draw, solely, to get your rocks off, dehumanizes them. It says that there is something different about people of color: They are not normal and shouldn’t be judged as such. In fact, it’s just this idea that caused a dust-up in the midst of this year’s GayVN Award nominations.

Called the “Oscars of gay porn,” by some, the awards released their nominations in November and came under fire for a “Best Ethnic Scene,” category. Actors Hugh Hunter, Dolf Dietrich, Sean Devran, and Armond Rizzo all declined their nominations in an act of resistance. They believed, like Konnor, that segregating actors of color in ways pertaining to their race (i.e. an “Ethnic scene” as opposed to just a “scene,” or a “big black cock” as opposed just a “big cock”) was a problem.

My response, “...I am respectfully declining my nominations in all categories...”

Full letter here. pic.twitter.com/CQPxZFRuZ6

— Hugh Hunter (@theHughHunter) November 25, 2017

What happens in porn is often representative of overall feelings and prevailing attitudes surrounding sex. When adult videos featuring men of color do so in a way that debases them over and over, it bleeds into society’s own interactions with men of color, as porn, particularly for gay men, is a major form of sex education.

“It’s different for everyone, it’s not the same across the board and that’s the point I was trying to get across,” Konnor said, pointing out that some men embrace the title. "I prefer if you not say this to me. That doesn’t mean that you’re wrong if you say it to someone else. I’m not trying to pass judgment, it just doesn’t work for me.”

So maybe next time before you use it, just ask?