We’ve heard a lot of scandalous Hollywood tales over the years, but this is definitely one of the most out there.
It involves sex, drugs, a dungeon, a penis cage… and a death during a ritual put on by a powerful Hollywood exec.
Skip Chasey, a senior vice president of business development at the world-famous WME agency, isn’t just a boss — he’s also a Master.
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Yes, the exec is well known in the BDSM scene; he has spoken at conferences, been quoted in books, and was even featured in the documentary Pup.
So it makes sense performance artist Doran George felt safe being the submissive in an S&M arrangement. Even George’s longtime significant other, film producer Barry Shils, says he was fine with it.
He told The Hollywood Reporter:
“We would giggle about it. ‘Oh, you’re going to see Master Skip? Is he going to spank you tonight?’ I was terribly naive about it in a way. In my mind, it was Fifty Shades of Grey crap.”
But in November 2017, their play went horribly wrong.
George was in Chasey’s dungeon, which was hidden away in the basement below his Los Feliz home. The coroner’s report describes the setting:
“The basement is outfitted as a BDSM-style dungeon. The room is equipped with padded floor tiles, a St. Andrews cross, a ladder back chair, a padded examination table and a metal cage. Racks on the walls contain numerous floggers, paddles, crops, canes, leather masks and hoods and ropes are noted in the room. A cabinet of fetish accessories are noted in the room. Numerous eye hooks are observed on the ceiling and ceiling beams for suspension and bondage.”
It was here that George, who had sealed himself up for his performance art pieces before (see above), was being “mummified” by Chasey.
George had a “locked metal chain around his neck and a penile chastity” cage (a device that prevents erections) and was bound “from head to toe by plastic wrap and gaffers tape with small breathing holes at the mouth and nose.”
About 2 hours into the ritual, Chasey noticed George wasn’t breathing.
He called 911 and cut off all the plastic wrap. But it was too late. Just 15 minutes later, paramedics pronounced him dead.
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The autopsy report labeled the cause as “sudden death during recreational mummification bondage” but found one other troubling thing — a small amount of GHB in George’s system.
Chasey claimed there were no drugs in his dungeon, but Shils says it wasn’t like his partner to mess around with it:
“He didn’t even smoke pot. He wouldn’t take an aspirin for a headache — only homeopathic remedies.”
Despite that wrinkle, the LAPD closed their case — concluding there was no criminal behavior, just an accident.
And while the immediate cause of death has been listed as sudden death, THR also reports the mode is still considered “undetermined” as it appears it may never be known if what led to his passing was “the drugs, or the restricted breathing, or the fluid in his lungs (Shils remembers George had a bad cold at the time).”
As for Chasey’s position at WME? They say they didn’t even know about the incident until this week! (A crime podcast called The Grey Zone uncovered much of the information around it recently.)
A spokesperson for the agency says:
“While we were unaware of the circumstances surrounding this personal matter until now, we understand that the police file is closed and no charges were brought. If other facts develop we will re-evaluate the situation and determine any appropriate action to take.”
It sounds like Chasey is facing no consequences. His lawyer says he told him to stay silent on the matter until after the statute of limitations is up. He also asserts that while the death is a “a great tragedy, it is not a result of anything they did.”
Chasey did write on Facebook at the time:
“I’ve just experienced a traumatic loss that necessitates my having to withdraw from the madding crowd and grieve for a while.”
He also emailed Shils to say “sorry for your loss.”
Shils tells THR he considered filing a civil wrongful death suit, but that it’s prohibitively expensive.
Instead, he’s confronting his own guilt in letting his partner dive further into this dangerous lifestyle:
“In my grief, I’m hitting myself — like it was like watching my lover shoot heroin and not saying anything. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he was going to end up dead.”
Our thoughts are with all affected by this tragic loss.
Be careful out there, everyone!
[Image via YouTube.]
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