Category: Viral

Add another name to the deluge of talent let go by WWE during the COVID-19 pandemic as the company announced that former Intercontinental and two-time Tag Team Champion Curtis Axel has been released. And starting this moment … from now … from this moment on … this’ll be the moment … starting now … of the Revelation … of McGillicutty.

WWE released the following statement, which I think really touches on the difficult emotions that come with releasing the grandson of a wrestling legend and the son of a WWE Hall of Famer:

“WWE has come to terms on the release of Curtis Axel. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

The grandson of The Axe and the son of Mr. Perfect, Axel (real name Joe Hennig) joined WWE developmental in 2007 and debuted a a participant on (and eventually the winner of) the second season of the ill-fated game show version of NXT. Axel’s WWE run included membership in the “New Nexus,” a brief stint as both the Intercontinental Champion and a “Paul Heyman Guy,” a popular Hulk Hogan impersonation gimmick that hit the bricks when Hogan was temporarily wiped from the company’s history, and a surprisingly thorough tag team alongside fellow underappreciated third-generation talent Bo Dallas.

We’d also like to wish Hennig the best in his future endeavors, which hopefully don’t involve being beaten up by Snoop Dogg.

There’s a lot of beer sitting on the shelf or in kegs right now, with millions of gallons in danger of getting wasted. Meanwhile, May is that time of year when craft beer releases kick into high gear. Plus the quarantine has left us in dire need of excitement and new experiences. Three factors that act as a call to action. A rallying cry.

Find new beer this month! Drink it!

If you’re a beer lover, ’tis the season to visit your local brewery and support them in any way that you can (most likely via whatever carry out service they offer). Brewers are having a hard time and there’s no sign of that stopping anytime soon. So get to drinking.

Hopefully, the eight beers we’re calling out this month will pique your interest and help you find something exciting near you. These picks are regional craft beer releases from breweries that we vouch for (we weren’t able to taste them all this month because of the lockdown, so we’re offering tasting notes from the brewer). Each one offers something unique to savor as summer draws near.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DROP: Alaskan Handcrafted Pilot Series Pineapple Jalapeño Gose

Style: Gose
ABV: 5.8%
Brewery Location: Juneau, AK

The Beer:

This gose is part of Alaskan’s much-sought-after Handcrafted Pilot Series. These are one-off beers that you may never see again. This German beer was brewed with pineapple, ghost peppers, and jalapeno to add a seriously fruity and vegetal depth to the salty and herbaceous style.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“The aroma is dominated by raw jalapeno and juicy pineapple, with a hint of smoke. The flavor is a perfect balance of sweet and heat. The pineapple balances the subtle heat and pepper character, with a light sourness that fades into a sweet finish.”

SOUTHWEST DROP: Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Style: Lager
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Chico, CA (& Mills River, NC)

The Beer:

Summerfest is a classic Bohemian pilsner from California. The beer is a yearly drop that never disappoints, especially as the weather heats up. The combination of Two-row Pale, Pilsner, and Munich malts act as the perfect base for the Perle, Saaz, and Spalter Select hops.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Crisp, golden, dry, and incredibly drinkable, Summerfest has a delicate and complex malt flavor with spicy and floral hop character—the perfect warm-weather beer.”

ROCKY MOUNTAIN DROP: New Belgium Sparkling Lime Lager

Style: Lager
ABV: 4.4%
Brewery Location: Fort Collins, CO (& Ashville, NC)

The Beer:

Sparkling Lime Lager is the latest drop from New Belgium’s Up Next Series, which highlights the changing seasons of beer. This light and fizzy lager leans into citrus with an almost hard seltzer underbelly. That is, it’s the perfect sunny day sipper.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Citrus and sunshine make a fantastic combination. The only thing missing is Sparkling Lime Lager. Bright, bubbly, packed with lime flavor, and brewed for crushing. This refreshing lager was made for soaking up the sun.”

SOUTHERN DROP: Creature Comforts Tastes Like Flowers

Style: Saison
ABV: 6.4%
Brewery Location: Athens, GA

The Beer:

It’s that time of year again. Tastes Like Flowers is back! Spring flowers are harvested every year and added to Creature Comfort’s signature saison. This makes every year’s edition slightly different but always special.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“The 2019 Spring flower harvest offered calendula, chamomile, and yarrow, which present a beautiful bouquet of floral intricacies in this annual saison.”

MIDWEST DROP: Bell’s Flamingo Fruit Flight

Style: Tart Ale
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Comstock, MI

The Beer:

Flamingo Fruit Flight is the perfect summer sipper with a real tart edge with a sweet fruitiness. The beer is made with fresh passionfruit and lime zest, adding to the depth of the tropical and citrus nature to the beer.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“It is brewed with passionfruit and lime zest, resulting in a tart blend of tropical, citrus flavors, and aromas.”

NORTHEAST DROP: Trillium Goody Trill Shoes

Style: Kölsch
ABV: 4.8%
Brewery Location: Boston, MA

The Beer:

Goody Trill Shoes is a carry-out only offering from Boston’s Trillium. The beer honors Exhibit A Brewing’s award-winning Goody Two Shoes kölsch. Trillium’s version is brewed using Pilsner, Valley Vienna, and Acidulated Malt from the venerated Valley Malt in Upstate New York with Saaz, Hallertauer, and Magnum hops added to the mix.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Goody Trill Shoes pours a brilliant straw-gold color with a fluffy, bone-white head. Nuanced aromas of crisp water crackers, toasted grain, and a lively lemon zest character entice the palate. Remarkably clean, with scrubbing carbonation and a dry finish that begs for another sip.”

WILD CARD DROP: Upslope German Style Pilsner

Style: Pilsner
ABV: 4.9%
Brewery Location: Boulder, CO

The Beer:

German Style Pilsner from Upslope is one of my favorite craft Pilsners. So, yeah, I’m partial to this return. The crisp nature and (near) session levels of ABV make this a go-to every summer.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Clean and crisp with an impeccably balanced hop profile. Pouring a brilliant straw color, it offers fresh and floral aromas from choice Loral and Tettnanger hops. The finish is dry and succinct with a refreshing crispness and snappy carbonation.”

INTERNATIONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: Brewdog Sonic Temple

Style: Session (NE)IPA
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Columbus, OH (UK)

The Beer:

Sonic Temple from Scotland’s BrewDog is a fruit bomb in IPA form. The addition of oats helps the beer mellow out and brings the ABVs down. The beer leans into a very hazy and fruity New England IPA nature with a hop profile that wallows in tropical fruit without too much alcohol punch.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Hazy yellow with rising tropical aromas, delivering a mix of pineapple, mango, and lime flavors. Brewed with oats for a smooth, bassy experience. Amped up hops, dialed down bitterness, big taste.”

As the health crisis became an undeniable concern by mid-March, abruptly shutting down TV productions may have been a difficult decision, but logistically, it was pretty basic to pull off. Just send everybody home. But as studios prepare to go to the opposite direction and resume filming in the coming months, producers are finding themselves facing a complex series of questions and hurdles with no easy answers. With the virus still actively being spread, and a vaccine probably far away, actors and crew members will face a considerable risk by returning to work.

In a new report from The Guardian, the BBC has revealed its unorthodox plans to address the seemingly insurmountable health concerns and hopefully bring “flashy dramas” and reality TV back to the masses who are growing tired of watching shows featuring awkward Zoom calls and webcam footage. One of the options includes putting Strictly Come Dancing participants into long-term isolation together and filming without a studio announce. Another is, well, playing a little fast-and-loose with social-distancing guidelines:

[Head of BBC Drama Commissioning Piers] Wenger said the BBC was also looking at ways to film new episodes while observing social distancing rules by looking to the Australian television industry: “There are ways of cheating, actors being close enough together to act in a scene. Neighbours are experimenting with different ways of shooting while social distancing is in place.”

While the BBC continues to look for solutions to roll out fresh content, it’s also prepared to simply abandon series like Line of Duty, which features high-profile actors and directors whose schedules are booked years in advance.

Meanwhile, Hollywood showrunners are also facing similar concerns as they prepare to face a new normal that could also include quarantining cast and crews “like a drama camp.” But before things can even reach that phase, numerous actors, producers, and crew members have been citing the availability of fast, daily testing as the top priority before productions resume, according to Deadline. Given America’s significant lag in testing, Hollywood productions could be looking at a much longer delay than their British counterparts.

(Via The Guardian & Deadline)

It wasn’t long ago that late-night TV shows were filmed in studios, in front of live audiences and with dozens of other people in the vicinity. Nowadays, though, the coronavirus pandemic has changed things: Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and the Jimmys/Jameses have started hosting their shows from home in recent weeks. Before all this happened, though, St. Vincent started work on a project that probably seemed more unusual then than it does now: She has teamed up with Progressive to host Shower Sessions, a new podcast that is filmed in a bathroom (or more accurately, a set designed to look like a bathroom).

All of the episodes are available on podcast platforms now (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.), and the musical performances are up on YouTube. Progressive notes of the series, “Half interview. Half concert series. 100% in a bathroom. Grammy winner St. Vincent shares the stage with six emerging musical artists. They sing. They share. And they do it all from the natural sound booth of the home, the shower.” The series features St. Vincent interviewing Duckwrth, Kassi Ashton, Loote, Donna Missal, Banners, and Amber Mark.

St. Vincent also wrote of the show, “When we filmed Shower Sessions in partnership with @Progressive, it was a little less ordinary to film in a bathrobe in the shower. Now we’re on par with late night talk shows.”

Watch the trailer for Shower Sessions above.

Jeremy Lin will appear in a one-on-one interview with NBA announcer Mike Breen on Thursday night on MSG Networks in New York to revisit his career with the Knicks and everything that’s happened since. The pair will cover everything from Linsanity, to how Lin’s NBA career ended, to his philanthropic work during the crisis in China and California, but what stands out most is how badly Lin wanted to remain in New York when his contract expired in 2012.

The stories have been told about resentment from Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, as well as how Mike D’Antoni was unable to keep everyone together, but what’s been missed is that Lin himself genuinely felt comfortable in New York and wanted to remain a Knick.

Because Lin was a restricted free agent, the Rockets had to get creative poaching him from the Knicks, so they backloaded their contract offer, giving Lin what is now called a “poison pill” offer in which the contract explodes in years three and four. That effectively meant the Knicks couldn’t afford to keep him, and no other team tried, according to Lin.

“We couldn’t get anything from any other team. And so, I had to go find a contract from somebody,” Lin tells Breen.

When Lin’s agent heard from Houston, Lin asked, “‘can you tell Houston to lower the offer, this is too much. Can you tell someone to lower the offer’, because I wanted to go back to New York and I wanted New York to match.”

In the end, Lin left for Houston and bounced around the league for a half-decade before leaving to China in the summer of 2019.

Since Kehlani’s debut album was released in 2017, fans have been eager for its full-length follow-up. Kehlani kept fans at bay with a handful of singles, including the recent numbers “Everybody’s Business” and “Toxic.” But finally, the singer revealed her sophomore album, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, will arrive very soon. Kehlani trailed her album announcement with the thumping single “F&MU” alongside a sensual visual.

Directed by Hyphy Williamz, the single’s accompanying visual recreates the pheromone-fueled song through intimate choreography. An acronym for “F*ck And Make Up,” the new single features Kehlani’s slow-burning vocals divulging the steamy details of a romance. “We do petty things / Then mess up the sheets, yeah / You be runnin’ back once we let it go / I already know,” she croons.

Ahead of the single’s release, Kehlani found herself embroiled in online drama with fellow Bay Area artist Kamaiyah. The rapper detailed her beef shortly after Kehlani announced It Was Good Until It Wasn’t. The frustration seemed to stem from Kehlani removing Keyshia Cole’s verse from her hit track “All Me.” Kehlani addressed the scuffle on Twitter, taking the high road in a series of since-deleted tweets.

Watch the “F&MU” video above.

It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is out 5/8 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here.

Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Late last year, it was reported that The Matrix 4 and John Wick 4 would have the same release date: May 21, 2021, a.k.a. Keanu Reeves Day. Yeah… about that.

In an interview with Collider, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum director Chad Stahelski, who worked as Reeves’ stunt double on The Matrix before becoming a stunt coordinator on the sequels, said there was some miscommunication about the whole “Matrix same-day” thing. “That was a fubar thing, couple wires got crossed between studios [and] that was a misquote from someone else about how they’re coming out on the same day,” he explained. The good news: you won’t have to choose which excellent Keanu Reeves movie to see first (in this house, every day is Keanu Reeves Day). The bad news: it might be awhile before John Wick 4: Rise of the Tick-Tock Man comes out.

“Between how much we want to expand the John Wick — let’s just call it a ‘franchise’, I guess — and the pandemic, I couldn’t tell you a release date for the next one. I mean, Matrix was only four weeks in when this all happened. So, Keanu’s gotta go finish his commitment up on The Matrix, which is a big deal and which I think will probably take him until the end of the year. Then we have to go into our prep mode… Release dates, who knows right now.”

Stahelski also revealed that he occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking, “Horses! How do I beat horses?!” but, he added, “I think I have a lot of really cool ideas for the next one that I think are different and shocking and fun and unique.”

As long as Keanu Reeves is mowing down bad guys in neon-lit rooms, I’m there opening night, whenever that is.

(Via Collider)

Ever since its semi-surprise release yesterday, Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” remix featuring Beyonce has caused quite the stir online. While Megan Thee Stallion joined the chorus of fans both famous and otherwise who praised Beyonce’s verse, Queen Bey’s name check of subscription content service OnlyFans even prompted OnlyFans to reach out with an invitation for the multi-hyphenate entertainment juggernaut to join up. Now, thanks to The-Dream, credited as a co-writer on the remix, we know who penned the line, which is already on its way to becoming iconic.

It should come as no surprise, though, that the mind behind the shout-out was none other than Beyonce’s husband and occasional partner-in-rhyme Jay-Z. The-Dream confirmed as much in a comment on Instagram. After posting about the song on his feed, he replied to a fan’s comment about name-checking TikTok — the same line that precedes Beyonce’s shout out to Instagram’s after hours “Demon Time” stream and jokes about starting an OnlyFans. “@thekingdream writes @tiktok into the culture!” the fan wrote. The-Dream dashed his fan’s hopes, however, clarifying, “That’s a J line.”

So, that clears up the provenance of Beyonce’s OnlyFans name check but now, fans are only going to have more questions, like, “Is Jay-Z really logging into Instagram to watch strippers twerk?” and “Who all is he actually subscribing to on OnlyFans?” Unfortunately, answers to those ones are likely going to remain as secret as the release date of the next Carters album.

Listen to Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce’s “Savage” remix above.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on just about every industry on earth (and our entire way of life as we know it). It’s changed literally everything. Except for the human race’s insatiable desire to f*ck. Yes, you can take our music festivals, force us to get our weed delivered curbside, make us wear masks, and make our hearts fill with abject panic every time we need to make an essential grocery run, but nothing is going to stop us from getting horny.

If you’ve spent any time on social media since the quarantine began — and you have, we all have — you’ll know that people on every social media platform are being open about just how hot and bothered being kept inside is making them. And the stats support it. According to Market Watch, dating apps like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com are seeing a surge in activity, with users sending about 21% more messages and average times for video and voice calls spiking. People are so thirsty right now that the state of New York had to issue guidelines telling us not to rim each other, lest we risk passing the coronavirus on.

But amidst this crazed haze, sex workers are being hit hard by the lockdowns. Many are out of work, while others have been forced to navigate the sometimes unfamiliar waters of digital content creation. In the month of March, the popular subscription-based site OnlyFans reported a 75% increase of users, with 2.5 million new signups, 60,000 of which were new creators — who either flocked to the site because the COVID-19 lockdowns have made it impossible to practice sex work IRL or because they lost their regular gigs and need a steady stream of new income to stay afloat.

Strippers, sex educators, sex shop workers, porn stars, dancers — pretty much anyone who works in the sex industry or has a sex work-adjacent job is now out of work and unable to get assistance, even from Congress’ CARES Act, the $2 trillion relief bill that was designed to help people impacted financially by the coronavirus. According to Reason, the long-standing language written into business loans prevents anyone who earns their income from “live performances of a prurient sexual nature” or anyone who “derives directly or indirectly more than the minimum gross revenue through the sale of products or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, of a purist sexual nature” from taking advantage of the types of loans offered in the CARES act.

This isn’t a uniquely American problem, either. All over the world sex workers are being affected, even in countries with more open and legalized sex work, like Germany, which according to the NY Daily News, has as many as 200,000 legal sex workers. Some countries, like Australia and Japan, have made the progressive decision to offer some relief to sex workers, but in order to qualify for many of these benefits, workers often need to officially register as sex workers, which can create a paper trail that can affect future job prospects, according to The Washington Post.

To get an insider’s perspective on the rapid changes in the sex work industry, we chatted over the phone with three sex workers — Devin Ladner, Erica Solitaire, and Danika Maia — about the struggles of transitioning from in-person sex work to creating digital content, the changing needs of an increasingly lonely customer base, and some of the common misconceptions that people have about sex work in general, and how that leads to them receiving little support and relief in a time of global crisis.

Prior to the social distancing measures, what was the nature of your sex work?

Devin: I was a dancer/ stripper.

Erica: A stripper.

Danika: Dancing, camming, and OnlyFans.

How has the stay at home order impacted the income you bring home?

Devin: I lost all of my income. Prior to the quarantine, I had an Only Fans that I was operating but I was not doing it seriously, it was just kind of there. It wasn’t making a crazy amount of money or anything of that sort of thing — I think it was bringing in maybe like $300 to $400 a month. Quarantine happened and everything shut down and I panicked, I was scared I didn’t have any income coming in so I went from making about eight-nine thousand a month to making essentially nothing.

Erica: Our club shut down I think March 15th, so we’ve been closed for a little over a month now and it’s been super hard. It was really unfortunate because the busy season was just about to start, things were picking up. I use to work at this venue called Cheetahs, and we were sold the week before Thanksgiving, so I literally lost two of my dance venues within two months, or within the span of three months. I was working at Cheetahs, we got sold in November, that was my main source of income. I made OnlyFans in December, found a new venue, and then COVID hit, So I went really hard into internet media, creating content online by myself. Me, and my iPhone. I also made a cam account last week.

Danika: Before I decided to cam full time, I went to the AVN awards at the end of January and I and a lot of cam girls and porn girls that were there got coronavirus at AVN, so we were all sick for all of February. Afterward, I didn’t want to go to my restaurant, I was waitressing at a restaurant since the restaurant I was working at, Cheetahs, closed in November, and I was like “you know what this is the perfect time to commit to online sex work full time and change everything to Danika.” I was previously camming under a different name.

Have you been able to match your previous income through camming, OnlyFans, and other forms of online content creation?

Devin: Nowhere near, no. Even after completely throwing myself into online work. Online work is really hard, you have to create content every day, and you need to continually have an online presence and visibility. Lucky for me, I’m an out sex worker so that was something I was capable of doing. But if you’re not an out sex worker, and you’re more private — you’re kind of fucked. You really have to stay visible on the internet. It’s constant interaction, constant content creation, constant work, and I’m not even making $2,000 dollars a month.

Erica: It skyrocketed for a while, but comes in waves. It goes up and goes down. When it was very new and exciting for everyone at the beginning, things were good, also you had all these stay-at-home people who were still receiving income, so they’re just online and pick a couple of people to support and that’s that.

Danika: It’s two-fold. On one hand, yes, everybody is home and lonely and looking to spend money on that more intimate interaction, in terms of porn and sexual content, but there has also been a huge influx of people signing up to the sites to work because it’s such a free and consistent way of making money online, so I would say it’s stayed the same actually. While there are more users, there is also a bigger influx of workers online — because all the people doing in-person sex work have to transition to online, and people who have never worked in sex work before are like “Well fuck it, I can’t be a waitress or a bartender or a DJ, I guess I’ll do OnlyFans.”

Has COVID-19 made people more generous with tips? And compared to dancing, are the tips substantially less or more?

Devin: In my experience, camming and online work is way less money. It’s a lot of work for not a lot of money at all. Everyone has different boundaries and I don’t mind this, but it’s usually also a lot more explicit work for a lot less. When I was dancing I worked in New Orleans where its just a topless club, some touching is allowed, but it was nothing crazy and I wasn’t doing explicit acts or anything, and I was making good money and now I’m on the internet where things are always there, so no matter what I decide to do later on, these things will always exist on the internet.

Erica: That’s hard for me to answer since I’ve only had my OnlyFans since around January, so I don’t have that many months to compare it to. It also seems to depend on how much interaction I make with my subscribers and also the kind of content I’m creating too. I think because it was new for me and it was new for my subscribers, we were just trying to figure out how it all works.

I wouldn’t say that anyone came because of the virus, I just think they knew that the clubs were shut down, and they came to support me.

Danika: No, and also the people who are signed up as clients are potentially losing money on their end, their jobs maybe are not essential, so I’ve seen maybe a tightening of budgets. I wouldn’t say people aren’t giving an outpouring of support because they realize that cam girls are doing fine. But I have seen a lot of people on Twitter — especially sex worker Twitter — there has been a lot of support internally in the community, like “Hey if you’re new to online sex work, we’ll promote your OnlyFans, we’ll support your content sites.” A lot of sex workers have kids and have been asking for support from other sex workers and that has become a more generous outlet because we know we are in a better position than most.

Are the emotional needs of customers stronger than before the pandemic?

Devin: Before the pandemic, I briefly did cam work for a summer. I don’t know if it’s because of the pandemic or just online work in general, but there is definitely more of a higher emotional strain. But I think that’s just because of access to the internet. I think it’s this idea that you’re accessible, so people assume you’re accessible all the time.

It is definitely very emotional work. People are constantly messaging you or asking you for things, or expecting things. My good friend went into camming work, and its really hard in that way. You need to establish regulars and those regulars become entitled to your time, and your accessibility.

Erica: Probably! I’m one of the worst hustlers… I don’t cater to people, I’m very much a performer. You came to my venue, I’m not coming to your table, it’s the other way around. But everyone has their different flow, some girls are really good at catering to emotional needs, I’m not one of them, so to briefly answer — yeah. There are definitely a lot of people that are like “I just want to talk” or want my attention or want to tell me their life story, and I’m over here like, “My story is so deep that my empathy level has to stay on the surface.”

Danika: I would say that everybody is kind of keeping the same sort of level head. In the chats, we all talk about COVID, and how we’re lonely and bored, but the essence of the work is still the same. The one-on-ones are still the same, it’s not like panic loneliness where people are desperate for a connection.

How much longer under this current system do you think you can sustain yourself with this massive change to your income and workflow?

Devin: You know, I’m doing what I can and honestly what’s really sustaining me are old regulars from the club. I’ve gotten gifts a few times from old regulars that know that obviously we’re all struggling and want to make sure that I’m taken care of, which has been really sweet and that’s honestly the reason I’ve been okay and been able to pay some bills, but I don’t know if it’s sustainable.

I find myself staying up every night, trying to find new ways to market myself, or try different avenues — there are so many different avenues of sex work, maybe I just need to put myself in every single one of them. Going through a pandemic, it’s so difficult right now to constantly work, and it’s constant work, it doesn’t stop. I don’t know how long it’s sustainable, I know that some girls do it full time, but it’s different when you were used to living a certain way, and I’ve created my life around that way and now I have to downgrade and create a new life.

Erica: Right now we’re testing that. I will say that I’m really mad at myself that I didn’t do this sooner. Especially being out in the public eye, it’s been really helpful. Obviously girls make bank on it and I’m trying to get to that level. I could definitely manage on this, if I do it the right way. It’s still really new for me, this is a completely different type of media, so I just have to find it and work it to my advantage. Each month, as of now, there has been a 50% to 60% income earning increase for me

It’s stressful though. I’m an actor, a dancer, so it all depends on who is booking me when. It’s a different kind of ball game, it’s stressful because I have my IMDB and my OnlyFans link in the same space. I was having this conversation with my roommate last night, am I going to show my breasts on cam sites? When you’re in Europe, and you’re laying out on the beach, you can be topless, so why not?

Is the cut that OnlyFans take worse than the cut you experience as a dancer?

Devin: It’s 20%, so for making less it’s high. If I have a subscription price for $15 a month, I’ll only make $12 a month, and then they also take 20% out of the tips that you make. So it is high, but in clubs, it varies in different parts of the country.

Sometimes the cut is really small, there was a small club in Tampa that had a set fee that covered your house, your tipping, and everything, you just paid that and that was it. And it was very low. But most of the time you’re looking at a 60/40 cut, when I worked in the club I was used to making 60% and the club taking 40%.

Erica: In some scenarios, it’s the same, but it varies. Only Fans take 20% flat, clubs here can take 50%.

Some countries, Japan for instance, are providing aid to people who work in the legal sex industry. I’m sure you’re aware that protections and aid here in the states is almost nonexistent. People who work in the sex industry can’t apply for some small business loans, may not qualify for certain aid programs, did you expect a helping hand when COVID-19 hit?

Devin: I mean I guess its sad that I expected to be forgotten. When all those small business loans were happening, right in the beginning friends were saying “Here is all this financial aid, here are things to apply to” and I remember seeing the first clause, and it didn’t shock me. I didn’t expect anything. And every single one of those small business loans has one of those clauses and that’s not shocking to me.

I may have had a more emotional reaction if I didn’t receive the stimulus check. I pay a fuck ton of money in taxes, a lot of sex workers pay a fuck ton of money in taxes. I think if we would’ve been forgotten in that, it would’ve been really unfair. But I don’t expect much out of the nature of our country because of the way the country as a whole treats sex workers.

Danika: Sex workers are pretty much the only group that has been explicitly excluded from receiving the COVID-19 disaster relief loans for small businesses. It specifically says any business that makes their income via lewd content or a prurient sexual nature may not apply for these funds. That includes strip clubs, adult toy stores, anything of a sexual nature. Bars that have dancers, if they’re making their income from any kind of sexual adjacent activity, are not eligible to receive that support. But online sex work has costs, just like with any business.

You have to have a good laptop, you have to have a good webcam, you have to have decent clothes and lingerie, you have to have a roof over your head and a safe space where you can cam. A lot of people are not lucky enough to live in an environment where they can do this work safely. It might require you to move to a place where you live alone, I know I’ve been kicked out of an apartment for camming because I had religious roommates who didn’t like it. Sex workers get discriminated against because of the work they do. But if we’re not given support or if we’re specifically excluded it’s going to be detrimental to a lot of single moms and regular people who are doing nudes online.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions about the Sex Worker Industry, and what unique challenges do you face in your line of work?

Devin: I have a lot of respect for online sex workers, think about how what they do is the most stigmatized because their content is on the internet, so you get trolls, or people who want to out you, or want to hurt you. It’s easier to out you if they know how to hack they can find a way to tell your family or friends if you’re not completely out. It’s just always there and I had heard this through porn, a lot of porn stars have said that they love their industry but what was hard about leaving their industry was trying to find work afterward because of this thing that was attached to them now. It’s the same with online content, maybe you’re not as accessible but you’re still doing porn on the internet so your work is heavily stigmatized, and not nearly for the same amount of money that dancers are used to making.

Erica: That it’s really easy and anyone can do it, or that it’s not artistic, but it’s super artistic.

In terms of the challenges, staying different and unique, or staying true to your brand or the theme you’re going with is hard. Staying focused and staying motivated, because I have to be in my house and get motivated to get hot and stay in front of my phone and pose for an hour. When I’m performing at a venue I’ll get professional photography, it’s not really in my nature to do content creation on my own and then sell it to people!

Danika: So many! There are a million different ways to use OnlyFans, people think everyone is posting BJ videos on their timeline and that is absolutely not the case. There are so many levels of nudity, even non-nudity, some people use their OnlyFans for other kinds of content. A lot of men use OnlyFans for fitness content. That’s the model I’m trying to bring through a new platform I’ve started called Money Mama — where you can monetize your influence in a lot of different ways and provide direct value to your followers. The people who are already buying adult content are preconditioned to that model of buying content directly from providers, whereas more mainstream content consumption is via a subscription model, either Master Class or Netflix or Hulu or Amazon. It’s more “I’m paying for the subscription service” and then the creator actually doesn’t get that much out of it.

It’s weird to me that it’s become more associated with selling or whoring yourself out. I’m making content, you give me the money, and that can be applied to anything. TV, YouTube tutorials, whatever it is. If you’re taking the money and booking yourself, you’re not less of a creator than someone with an agent and a manager.

Also, there is a misconception that the only people who buy this content are total losers or perverts who can’t get free porn. Anyone can figure out how to get free porn… The people who buy adult content are more technologically advanced because they understand these different platforms, and services, and understand that the creator is getting more money than the actress that did a one-off video that is being watched endlessly on Pornhub.

These are people who understand the ideas of consent, and personal value in skill sharing.

When Deonna Purrazzo became one of the many workers laid off by WWE earlier this month, she responded positively, tweeting, “The people closest to me know this is something I’ve been struggling with wanting for the better part of the last year. Happy to say I gave this journey my best and MORE excited for the future!” In a new interview with Fightful, Purrazzo explained why she had been looking to leave the company.

Purrazzo signed with WWE in 2018. After competing in the Mae Young Classic, she wrestled most of her matches on NXT house shows. She never had a real angle on NXT TV and appeared on main roster programming as enhancement talent. “I feel like NXT is a culture of you’re grateful for what you get and you don’t ask for more,” Purrazzo said of how she was being used, “and I wasn’t grateful for what I got.”

Purrazzo said she worked hard to get to NXT, and once she got there, she thought of character and vignette ideas and “different ways that they could use me and use my potential and it did fall on deaf ears.” In a recent interview with the Conversations With Love podcast, Purrazzo’s friend and tag partner Chelsea Green, who still works for NXT, concurred that “Deonna has so much potential. She was not used in the capacity she should have been used in.”

Purrazzo said she had been thinking about asking for her release for months, and she was open about not wanting to be a jobber. According to Purrazzo, at least a few people who were cut from WWE had “expressed creative unhappiness” too, and she thinks that’s why she was let go.

I definitely feel like that’s frowned upon in NXT. For me, I feel like, and maybe it’s just making myself feel better, but that was probably a reason why I was let go. Because I said a month ago, “Hey, I’m not happy. If you’re not going to do something with me, let me go. Let me figure this out somewhere else.”

Purrazzo is already being proactive about her post-WWE career, starting a new interview series that premieres on Independent Wrestling TV tonight.