Bella Thorne apologises after OnlyFans backlash

Bella Thorne responded to social media backlash over her decision to join the subscription platform OnlyFans in a series of tweets, saying she was trying to help reduce the stigma around sex work and plans to meet with those in charge to discuss new policies that have recently gone into effect.

“I wanted to bring attention to the site,” she wrote on Twitter. “The more people on the site, the more likely of a change to normalise the stigmas... .”

Thorne, who made more than $2 million on the subscription platform in a little more than a week, says she was trying to “help bring more faces to the site to create more revenue for content creators”.

The actress, who initially came to fame on the Disney Channel comedy ‘Shake It Up’, had earlier revealed she planned to help make a film about OnlyFans with ‘The Florida Project’ director Sean Baker. Baker later released a statement to distance himself from the project.

“I am a mainstream face and when you have a voice, a platform, you try to use [it] in helping others and advocate for something bigger than yourself,” she tweeted. “Again in this process I hurt you and for that I’m truly sorry.”

Hundreds of OnlyFans performers spoke out against Thorne’s arrival to the site and accused her of taking opportunities from workers who are relying on the platform for income during the pandemic.