diff --git a/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs b/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
index c9ba319..833aa1b 100644
--- a/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/metadata/src/lib.rs
@@ -1985,6 +1985,13 @@ impl MetadataClient {
                     }
                     let title = result.title;
                     let purl = result.page_url;
+                    // Before identity, not after: reading the unfiltered bucket
+                    // puts explicit results in the pool, and the identity gate
+                    // is a relevance test with no notion of decency.
+                    if is_adult_result(&title, &purl, &murl) {
+                        rejected_unsuitable += 1;
+                        continue;
+                    }
                     let Some(identity) = bing_identity_confidence(&title, &purl, &murl, artist)
                     else {
                         rejected_identity += 1;
@@ -8007,7 +8014,16 @@ fn multi_artist_result_mismatches_image(title: &str, image_url: &str, artist: &s
         || listing_text.contains(" featuring ")
         || listing_text.contains(" vs. ")
         || listing_text.contains(" versus ")
-        || listing_text.contains(" x ")
+        // `" x "` is deliberately NOT here. It reads as a co-bill between two
+        // acts, but in practice it far more often joins a venue and a festival
+        // or a brand: "Nikki Nair | Boiler Room x Bass Coast 2022". Because
+        // every YouTube thumbnail is named `maxresdefault.jpg`,
+        // `image_names_artist` is structurally false for the whole class, so
+        // this one separator was rejecting every Boiler Room and festival set
+        // photo -- the richest source of hero-shaped photography that exists
+        // for DJs, and the only 1280x720 candidate Nikki Nair had. A genuine
+        // collaboration graphic is still caught below by `named_collaboration`,
+        // which requires the image itself to name the other subject.
         || two_act_conjunction
         || ([" y ", " con ", " junto a ", " et ", " und "]
             .iter()
@@ -8053,6 +8069,59 @@ fn multi_artist_result_mismatches_image(title: &str, image_url: &str, artist: &s
     separator_count >= 2 && !image_names_artist
 }
 
+/// Explicit-content rejection, applied BEFORE the identity gate.
+///
+/// The hero search reads Bing's unfiltered bucket as well as the strict one,
+/// because either can be serving another query's results. That is necessary for
+/// coverage, but it means pornography now enters the candidate pool: a direct
+/// read of one artist's unfiltered wave returned 24 hardcore cards. An audit
+/// found zero of ~67 such cards could clear `bing_identity_confidence` -- porn
+/// pages do not name obscure musicians -- but that is an empirical accident,
+/// not a guarantee, and it is one gate deep. This is the independent second
+/// layer that reading only the strict bucket used to provide.
+fn is_adult_result(title: &str, page_url: &str, image_url: &str) -> bool {
+    let urls = format!("{page_url} {image_url}").to_lowercase();
+    const ADULT_HOSTS: [&str; 16] = [
+        "pornhub.",
+        "xhamster.",
+        "xhcdn.com",
+        "xnxx.",
+        "xvideos.",
+        "eporner.",
+        "redtube.",
+        "youporn.",
+        "spankbang.",
+        "pictoa.",
+        "thefappening",
+        "onlyfans.",
+        "fapello.",
+        "hentai-foundry.",
+        "rule34.",
+        "e-hentai.",
+    ];
+    if ADULT_HOSTS.iter().any(|host| urls.contains(host)) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    // Title vocabulary, kept to terms that do not appear in music writing.
+    // "Adult contemporary", "XXX" as a roman numeral and band names such as
+    // Nude Beach or Pornography (The Cure) must NOT trip this, so match only
+    // unambiguous phrases.
+    let haystack = format!(" {} ", title.to_lowercase());
+    const ADULT_PHRASES: [&str; 10] = [
+        " porn ",
+        " porno ",
+        "hardcore porn",
+        " nsfw ",
+        " blowjob",
+        " creampie",
+        " anal sex",
+        " sex tape",
+        "nude leaks",
+        " milf ",
+    ];
+    ADULT_PHRASES.iter().any(|term| haystack.contains(term))
+}
+
 /// True for Bing results that are unambiguously merchandise, a physical music
 /// format, or a shop listing rather than a photograph of the performer. Keep
 /// this conservative: page/image URL structure is the strongest signal, while