Trace Cyrus, Miley Cyrus' brother, draws backlash for criticizing female users on OnlyFans
Trace Cyrus should leave the girl talk to the girls.
Cyrus, guitarist of pop rock band Metro Station and brother of pop star Miley Cyrus, drew backlash on social media when he criticized women who create sexual content on the online platform OnlyFans in a Wednesday post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
OnlyFans is a social media network, like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, where creators can earn money from users – the "fans" – who pay a monthly membership fee to access their exclusive content. The platform has become synonymous with the adult entertainment industry and sexual content.
While Cyrus said he knows "some amazing girls" who are OnlyFans creators, many of these women "have lost their chance of ever settling down with a good guy with morals."
"They get a lot of attention from guys on (OnlyFans), so they think they have options," Cyrus wrote. "But any guy who is so desperate to see sexual content they are willing to pay for it is a desperate loser. … They don't look at those women and equate their value as a future wife, mother, or loyal partner."
Cyrus also seemed to take aim at the self-sufficiency female users find in monetizing their content through OnlyFans.
"I just think this independent mindset of not needing a man is extremely toxic and leads to a very lonely future," Cyrus wrote. "Having a good man and a family will bring you more happiness in old age than (OnlyFans) ever could."
Social media users quickly came down on Cyrus for his remarks.
"Genuinely curious: why do you care?" user @ladidaix wrote on X. "Live and let live. No need to project."
"There's a lot of female sex workers married with families, businesses, educations, homes etc. Some are married to sex workers, and some are married to non-sex workers," X user @SybilStalloneTV wrote. "We are valuable humans. Stop devaluing our existence with your platform."
X user @WWKaye wrote sarcastically: "We need to stop this ridiculous idea of women being able to treat their bodies and their time as those belong to them! What a wild concept for women to do what they like and enjoy of their own choosing!"
In an X post Thursday, Cyrus doubled down on his initial criticism. "Most of you have made it clear you're not intelligent enough to make a rebuttal to my statement without verbal abuse and name calling," he wrote.
A slew of celebrities, including Cardi B, Carmen Electra, Bella Thorne, Drea de Matteo and Iggy Azalea, have embraced the subscription-based platform in recent years for the autonomy it's given them over their sexuality and creative life.
"I've made a lot of people so much money off my body, and I got the smallest cut off my own…body, and my own work, and my own ideas," Azalea told Emily Ratajkowski in a February interview. "I don't think I have to be sorry about the fact that I want to commodify my own (stuff)."
Electra, who launched her OnlyFans profile in May 2022, said the platform gave her the "opportunity to be my own boss and have my own creative vision to share with my fans without someone standing over me."
"People are going to do what they want to do anyway with your photos," Electra told People magazine at the time. "You might as well be in control of them and follow what you feel like doing inside."
Thorne quickly cashed in on the platform and became the first OnlyFans creator to earn $1 million dollars in under 24 hours, according to Paper Magazine.
"OnlyFans is the first platform where I can fully control my image: without censorship, without judgment, and without being bullied online for being me," Thorne told the outlet in August 2020.
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Contributing: Pamela Avila and Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trace Cyrus: Miley Cyrus' brother draws backlash for OnlyFans comments