A pornstar-turned-lecturer has been banned from holding an HIV awareness event by his university.
Dr Ruggero Freddi, a maths professor at Rome’s prestigious La Sapienza University, was declined permission to hold his World AIDS Day event last week.
Dr Freddi rose to prominence in Italy in October when a newspaper revealed his former life as an adult film actor.
The academic used to be known as Carlo Masi, a gay pornstar signed to Colt Studios in California.
He had intended to hold a discussion with his engineering class about tackling HIV and the expansion of PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis).
There are an estimated 130,000 people living with HIV in Italy according to UNAIDS, which is around 7% of men who have sex with men.
However university bosses banned the move, overruling the faculties of Engineering and Pharmacy and Medicine.
“The event was in collaboration with ANLAIDS, PLUS Onlus and the Faculty of Medicine,” he said, “but at the last second the Dean of the Faculty didn’t wanna give permission, despite the fact that at the beginning he told me he supported the event.”
Students unraveled a banner that read “Do not believe that HIV is not your concern” in protest at the decision.
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