An award-winning porn star had a starring role in a document produced to support Hull’s bid for the UK City of Culture 2017 title.
Dundee lost out to the Humberside town for the prestigious title last month.
But now a marketing group who produced an official brochure for Hull’s bid have been forced to defend giving a hardcore porn actress a part in the document.
Thirty-year-old Poppy Morgan, who has featured in nearly 150 pornographic films, was born in Hull and was won the Best Female Actress of the Year at the UK Adult Film and Television Awards in 2006.
In a section of the Hull brochure about the city’s links to film and television, Morgan was named alongside such acting legends as Sir Tom Courtenay and Maureen Lipman.
The guide was produced by marketing company The Bondholders. It cost £7,000 to produce and 10,000 copies have been distributed around Hull.
Bondholders marketing manager Nicola Baker said Morgan’s inclusion in the document was not the same as condoning hardcore pornography.
She said: “The Culture Guide has proven to be enormously popular with cultural organisations and the public.
“It has also been an excellent form of promotion of the Hull City of Culture bid and was used extensively as a backdrop on the day when Hull was announced as the winner, being featured on national and international media reports.
“A large number of groups and individuals contributed suggestions of people, places and events for inclusion.
“Poppy Morgan is an acclaimed actress albeit in the adult film industry. She won Best Female Actress of the Year at the 2006 UK Adult Film and Television Awards in London.
“This guide is clearly not about condoning porn but it is about celebrating Hull’s diversity of culture and entertainment.”