Musician Trace Cyrus angered supporters of the subscription-adult content platform OnlyFans after he said women on the platform would struggle to find good husbands.
Cyrus is the older brother of Disney child star Miley Cyrus and the son of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus.
“There’s so many girls that do OnlyFans that have lost their chance of ever setting down with a good guy with morals,” the Metro Station singer said in a statement he shared on X. Only Fans. pic.twitter.com/vR6PAzvQZQ
— Trace Cyrus (@TraceCyrus) August 30, 2023
Cyrus went on to say that OnlyFans creators may “call those men insecure for having standards" but that many have publicly said they are struggling to find a serious relationship.
“They get a lot of attention from guys on OF so they think have options,” said Cyrus. “But any guy who is so desperate to see sexual content they are willing to pay for it is a desperate loser. "
“A lot of successful guys will sleep with those girls but they don’t want to wife them,” he continued. “I see a lot of these girls speaking out on this now saying they can’t get a serious relationship. It’s because men see the value in those girls strictly for sex.”
“They don’t look at these women and equate their value as a future wife, mother, or loyal partner,” Cyrus said.
The musician was specifically critical of the “independent mindset of not needing a man” – calling it “toxic” and warning that that perspective “leads to a very lonely future.” He praised women who have spoken about their experience and the effects of taking part in OnlyFans, stressing the importance of helping other girls “know the risks.”
“Having a good man and a family will bring you more happiness in old age than OF ever could,” Cyrus concluded.
OnlyFans popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic, roughly four years after it was launched. By February of 2023, more than 3 million creators had joined the site and OnlyFans CEO Leonid Radvinsky had earned at least $500 million in net earnings.
“These ‘sexfluencers’ combine sexual content with traditional online influencer models to generate up to $900,000 a month,” reports MoneyWise.
While the platform has been praised as a potentially empowering outlet for women, its critics say the site is far from a consequence-free side hustle for those who opt to post pornographic content of themselves.
In an opinion piece for The Spectator, feminist activist Julie Bindel wrote:The site is not just a vaguely sanitised version of sex work, there is also evidence that the women who use the site can be vulnerable to scams. I have heard first-hand from two women who have had money withheld by the site administrators, and although they complained repeatedly, never received their remuneration.
It can also put its content creators in danger. Recently a 4 terabyte dump of videos and images was leaked online, primarily of women who use the site to share pornographic images. Rather than a hack, the leak seemed to be from OF customers accessing photos and videos individually, then sharing them with others and compiling them into a large file for free.
The Los Angeles Times deemed Cyrus's message a “sexist rant” that devalued “the existence of sex workers and those making a living off the platform.”
Cyrus has brushed off the backlash to his post, which has over 9.5 million views as of Sept. 1.
“If there wasn’t truth to my statement nobody would care,” Cyrus wrote in a separate post. “I triggered everyone who already knows this but try’s to ignore it. My message was extremely positive and great advice.”
