While the world is coming to terms with the recent phenomena of only fans, Ray J recently speculated whether the impact of his sex tape with Kim Kardashian may have inspired the creation of platforms like onlyfans.
On the Club Shay Shay podcast, Ray J said:
“Everything would be different” if the tape had never been made. “We would all be different…We’d have on different clothes.”
“Probably more people would be going to college and getting an education and being successful… there may not be an OnlyFans and all the opportunities like that. Are we part of the cure, are we part of the disease? I don’t know. All I know is I’m jus trying to make it right.”
It’s an intriguing question. If Kardashian and Ray J had never made the ‘sex tape’ would generations of young people be drawn to onlyfans today?
Kim Kardashian, the daughter of esteemed lawyer Robert Kardashiah who infamously defended OJ Simpson, has made a career of turning controversy into success. From the release of lurid sex tapes with rapper Ray J to the world of reality TV, ‘at home with the Kardashians’, to her later controversial marriage to Kanye West, Kardashian has been in the spotlight for over two decades.
Kardashian created a new business model.
She was the first celebrity to profit from a sex tape and then go on to create a relative television series and become a global icon. Only months after Karashian filed a lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment for the distribution of the sex tape, she agreed to a settlement with Vivid, and the company was given permission to distribute the tape. Then, in 2007,, Kardashian launched the reality TV show, ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’.
Rarely do we stop to examine the consequences of celebrity and the cult around it. But hero worship does bring a desire to imitate. Being the first to monetize a sex tape, at some point, the public realised that they could follow the same example.
We all know that sex sells. But did the infamous Kardashian sex tape eventually inspire platforms like onlyfans?. While the pornographic industry has been operating for decades, onlyfans made it possible for anyone to monetize sex. What celebrities used to do in the past to generate scandal and attention can now be replicated on social media platforms for mass society.
The one thing that makes this possible? Our obsession with fame. Around 33% of people claim they want to be famous, and many are willing to do anything to achieve it. We crossed a cultural threshold when only fans were created.
Part of the problem is social media. The average person spends 2.5 hours per day using social media, and social media apps have been designed in a way to celebritize every one of us. From profile photos to posting content, locations, and garnering likes and clicks, and followings, the general public has endorsed its own version of celebrity.
Fame used to be the byproduct of spectacular skill or ability, now it is the end goal. People are willing to do almost anything to garner a following or more clicks and attention. When 22-year-old Nishu Diwal was filming a tractor stunt for his 1.5 million followers, he was crushed to death as he attempted to bring the tractor on two wheels when it collapsed on top of him during a live stream of the stunt.
The cult of fame and glory demands a high price, which society wants to pay. But removing the ethics of reaching fame, namely, the result of being an esteemed professional, has opened the floodgates for a generation of young people to sell sex and controversy in the digital world.
Humans are creatures of imitation. There’s no doubt that the cultural impact and ripple effects of figures like Kim Kardashian are still ongoing. Ray J seems to believe that the impact may be a negative one; it is hard to disagree.
