We were a little surprised yesterday when the image to the left appeared in our in-box. It's purported to be a photograph of New York gay icon and porn star Michael Lucas. Along with it came a press release that announced: "Michael Lucas Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment." As you can see from the shot, it's actually just a sort of sexy publicity stunt for a new project (a call to Lucas Entertainment went unreturned), which isn't particularly out of character for Lucas. But since Dean Johnson, another New York gay icon and (sometime) porn star actually was found mysteriously dead in an apartment just last week, it seems extraordinarily tasteless. You know, even more tasteless than a pornographic fake-death publicity stunt normally would be.

Earlier: Promoter and Queer Icon Dean Johnson Dies