Bella Thorne has taken to Twitter to issue a lengthy statement regarding her OnlyFans scandal this week and hoo boy, this is a lot to process on a Sunday afternoon.
There’s a lot to unpack in the situation, but essentially Bella joined OnlyFans, made an instant couple of million dollars and left many sex workers feeling like she was using the industry without respecting those who paved the way.
But now Bella has *finally* issued a statement after days of backlash from the sex work community, who feel exploited and victimised by her recent moves.
PT1 Remove the stigma behind sex, sex work, and the negativity that surrounds the word SEX itself by bringing a mainstream face to it that’s what I was trying to do, to help bring more faces to the site to create more revenue for content creators on the site.
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
I wanted to bring attention to the site, the more people on the site the more likely of a chance to normalize the stigmas, And in trying to do this I hurt you. I have risked my career a few times to remove the stigma behind sex work, porn, and the natural hatred people spew…
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
behind anything sex related. I wrote and directed a porn against the high brows of my peers and managers because I WANTED to help with the stigma behind sex.
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
Her lengthy statement also included an apology for hurting the community that she claims she was only trying to help.
…I am a mainstream face and when you have a voice, a platform, you try to use you in helping others and advocate for something bigger than yourself. Again in this process I hurt you and for that I’m truly sorry.
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
In a shred of silver lining to an otherwise grey cloud of bad news, Thorne also announced that she’s meeting with OnlyFans to discuss the new restrictions.
Ps. I’m meeting with only fans about the new restrictions to find out why!!! This is fucked up and I’m sorry comment any ideas or concerns you want brought up to OF!! and send me your links and a pic so I can promote you guys
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
It’s important to note that OnlyFans has already released a statement asserting that the new tip limits have nothing to do with Bella Thorne’s actions, so it’s unclear if she will actually be able to enact change for the good of the sex work community, but here’s hoping her star power is enough to at least revert the platform back to where it was before she joined.
“Transaction limits are set to help prevent overspending and to allow our users to continue to use the site safely,” OnlyFans said in a statement on Saturday.
“We value all of the feedback received since this change was implemented and we will continue to review these limits.Our objective remains to provide the best platform possible for the OnlyFans community. We can confirm that any changes to transaction limits are not based on any one user.”
But despite her lengthy statement, many in the community still feel incredibly hurt by her actions and don’t believe she has done enough to right her wrongs.
In the hours following her comments, thousands have urged her to donate her profits to pro-sex work organisations, or to models on the platform directly. Many also urged her to consult actual sex workers before making her next move to ensure that her actions moving forward will actually benefit the community.
https://twitter.com/alirodmur/status/1299935358176591872
https://twitter.com/xocryssstal/status/1299935079293100032
Meanwhile, others questioned her motives altogether, pointing out that she claimed to be “normalising” sex work despite not actually sharing naked images at all.
Great to “normalize sex work” by making a paid Instagram while fucking over everyone else
— Daniel Rosetti 🇧🇴🇺🇸 (@DanielRosetti4) August 30, 2020
It’s unclear if Thorne plans to donate her funds to help the community, or if her alleged movie on the ordeal is still going ahead. But we’ll be sure to update you as more information emerges.
For more information on how you can be an ally to the sex work industry, you can visit Scarlet Alliance.
