Bella Thorne attends the LA Premiere of Universal Pictures’ “J.T. Leroy” (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Bella Thorne has issued an apology for “hurting” OnlyFans creators, after she was accused of “ruining” the platform for sex workers.
OnlyFans – a social media platform where fans pay for content – has been used by sex workers across the world for some time as a vital income stream, particularly during the pandemic.
Bella Thorne, 22, broke an OnlyFans record this month by becoming the first person ever to make $1 million on the site in just 24 hours.
The pansexual former Disney star later revealed that her OnlyFans account would serve as research for an upcoming documentary “about the politics behind female body shaming and sex”.
However, Thorne was soon criticised online as rumours began to spread that she had “scammed” fans, charging them $200 to view a supposed “nude” photo that wasn’t actually fully nude.
The claims were made in a viral tweet posted Friday (August 28), which alleged that OnlyFans had changed its rules after countless people requested refunds from Thorne.
“OnlyFans won’t allow us to charge over $50 for [pay per view] OR get tipped over $100,” the post read.
“And this morning we were all told that instead of waiting seven days for our payouts, we have to wait 30. The theory is that [OnlyFans] can’t afford to pay her [Thorne] her cut so now our funds are being tied up.
“It’s bulls**t. She singlehandedly f**ked so many sex workers.”
So for those confused about the whole Bella Thorne /onlyfans thing and how she’s harmed hard working SW’s here’s a quick run down pic.twitter.com/DwWNRyiSMy
— Bria (@BriaThegorgon) August 28, 2020
Now, Thorne has addressed the criticism and issued an apology.
On Saturday, August 29, she wrote on Twitter: “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.
“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.”
She added: “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.”
Thorne also said that she would be meeting with OnlyFans “about the new restrictions to find out why”.
Pause. I only got into part one of her apology but did Bella Thorne really think her solitary privileged self was going to revolutionize SW by not providing any SW? pic.twitter.com/ASSIRrGL8b
— 🧟♀️ 𝐙𝐎𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐄🧟♂️ BLM #BB22 (@NotJosieGrossy) August 30, 2020
However, OnlyFans creators were unconvinced by Thorne’s apology.
One asked: “Did Bella Thorne really think her solitary privileged self was going to revolutionize sex work by not providing any sex work?”
Another said: “Bella Thorne’s apology boils down to ‘I was just trying to give you guys exposure cuz I’m so famous, jeez, where’s my thanks?’”