Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) publicly lambasted the New York Post on Sunday in defense of Lauren Kwei, a 23-year-old medic in New York City who chose to become an adult content creator on OnlyFans.
While Kwei is charging $11.99 a month for her adult content, The Post left nothing to the imagination in their controversial article, entitled "NYC medic helped ‘make ends meet’ with racy OnlyFans side gig."
The outlet provided readers with the 23-year-old medic's first, middle and last name, as well as her height, weight and place of employment.
Leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is “Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive”
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 14, 2020
"Leave her alone," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, adding, "The actual scandalous headline here is 'Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive'".
AOC was hardly alone in defending her fellow New Yorker, as over 370,000 netizens liked the lawmaker's tweet. An additional 7,400 users quote-tweeted their opinions on the controversial article.
this is a real american hero. anyone with an onlyfans is serving the community better than every single person that works at the nypost. https://t.co/BXrAT6tusi
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) December 14, 2020
It’s okay to do sex work, whether it’s a side hustle or your main gig, whether it’s to survive or thrive, whether you love it or not.
— Against Everyone With Conner Habib (@ConnerHabib) December 14, 2020
It’s as okay as being in any other job, including medicine.
Mounting shame against it- and in this case, possible punishment for it - is not okay. https://t.co/97byhSPXHY
“The bottom line: I don’t get paid a lot. I’m just trying to make ends meet,” Kwei told The Post prior to publication. “I truly don’t think this has anything to do with being a paramedic.”
It appears that the New York Post did not pay the $11.99 fee to access Kwei's content. Instead, the outlet references using second-hand information from "a subscriber to Kwei's site."
Over 2,000 have supported the 23-year-old via her GoFundMe. According to an update posted in the fundraiser, Kwei requested anonymity in relation to the story, but the "newspaper and journalist (male) decided against honoring her request."
While Kwei has received over $44,000 in pledged donations, her primary job is ultimately now in jeopardy. Termination would mean the 23-year-old would lose "her ability to help support her family," including her "extremely ill" father, according to the fundraising campaign.
The New York Post issued an update, claiming that Kwei scrubbed her OnlyFans of all content on Friday.
“I know SeniorCare would deem this ‘inappropriate’ so I took it down in the hopes that I won’t lose my job in the middle of a pandemic and three weeks before Christrmas [sic],” she explained to The Post via a text.
Kwei's transparency was ultimately used against her, as the outlet not only quoted the policy in question, but also issued multiple requests for comment to company representatives.
