Kate Nash on turning to OnlyFans: ‘My bum is for sale – my artistic vision isn’t’
Kate Nash has a message for critics: “Not all heroes wear capes. Some just sell pictures of their bum.”
The singer’s bum jokes pepper the conversation, but her arse – as she says – highlights a very serious point. “The music industry is failing. It’s failing its artists, and soon it’s going to be failing fans, too.”
If you’re not sure why Kate Nash’s bottom is now an emblem for saving the music industry, a recap: last week, the singer announced she had joined OnlyFans, the online adult content subscription service popular with, but not exclusively for, sex workers.
#ButtsForTourBuses, Nash said, will subsidise her live shows, which are becoming prohibitively expensive for many artists.
Pic: Clemens Niehaus/Geisler-Fotopres/picture-alliance/dpa/AP 2019
Fans are supportive, she tells Sky News, but her (mostly covered) bottom has faced criticism: “I’ve been called apocalyptic and a prostitute, which is outdated – it’s sex worker – but I’ll take ‘apocalyptic prostitute’ because it’s quite an epic title. To me, the idea of a country with no grassroots, no working-class people in music, no [smaller] venues, only stadiums – that’s apocalyptic.”
Last year, a Musicians’ Union and Help Musicians census found musicians’ average income was £20,700, compared to a population average of £37,430 for full-time workers. But almost half the musicians who responded were taking home less than £14,000, and more than half relying on other sources of income.
Industry insiders say even established names are having to take on second jobs.
Nash, 37, is an established artist who rose to fame with her 2007 debut album Made Of Bricks, and its hit single Foundations. She starred in the Netflix female wrestling comedy-drama Glow, released her fifth album, 9 Sad Symphonies, earlier this year, and has almost a million monthly listeners on Spotify.
When we speak, she is in the middle of a run of UK gigs at venues up to 1,500 capacity. She considered cancelling after tours in the US and Europe left her struggling financially. Costs have gone up by almost a third in recent years, she says.
More than 100 venues were forced to close or stop hosting live music in 2023
“It’s a financial strain and everybody at my level and under is feeling that. You just lose so much money touring.”
To make up for the shortfall, Nash has sent her posterior viral. Her first photo on 20 November gained hundreds of likes. The pictures show her in her knickers, nothing explicit. “This is what a feminist looks like,” is her t-shirt slogan in one image.
A subscription is $9.99 (about £7.95) a month. The singer doesn’t want to reveal yet how much she has earned but says it has already made up for any losses she incurred on tour.
“I’ll just say you can make a surprising amount… right now it’s just for me to see what happens – and see how far my arse can take me.”
Lily Allen has shared pictures of her feet. Pic: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP 2024
The musician is not the first to turn to OnlyFans. Rappers Iggy Azalea and Cardi B reportedly made millions before coming off the site, and earlier this year, Lily Allen claimed her account selling pictures of her feet was earning more than her seven million-plus monthly Spotify listeners.
OnlyFans says it empowers content creators, particularly women, to monetise images and videos online in a safe environment. In 2021, actress Sarah Jayne Dunn, who was starring in Hollyoaks at the time, joined the site to do just this – but was then dropped from the soap as the content didn’t align with its younger demographic.
And there has been criticism over the potential for exploitation – a recent Reuters investigation talked to women who claimed they had been forced to make money for others.
But like Nash, Allen said she found the experience empowering, “because having been very sexualised from a very early age and literally everybody else in the process profiting from that sexualisation, it’s actually really fun to be in power and in control of something that I find so silly”.
Actress Sarah Jayne Dunn left Hollyoaks after joining OnlyFans. Pic: Brett Cove/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Nash says she wanted to be honest about the difficulties of touring. Just a few weeks ago, BBC Sound Of nominee and NME award winner Rat Boy announced he was cancelling his band’s UK tour, saying they couldn’t make it affordable, “even with us driving, teching and all four of us sharing a single bed on top of the van”.
Singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri, who is supporting Sabrina Carpenter’s UK and European tour dates next year, also cancelled a series of US dates due to costs. In the summer, Mercury Prize nominee Nadine Shah said she turned down a slot at Glastonbury as it was “too expensive a hit”.
Brexit, the pandemic and now the cost of living crisis have impacted everyone, but experts say the music industry has been hit particularly hard.
Sarah Pearson, who has worked in the industry for 25 years, runs management and PR agency Wasted Youth Music and is co-founder of the Beyond The Music co-operative. She says many artists have recently had no choice but to take on other work.
“Fans and consumers and people outside of the industry might think it’s a glamorous life… but it’s just not true [for most] anymore,” she says.
“We’re at an impasse right now where artists can’t make money from their art, which is serious for our cultural future. Where is the money going to come from and how can we create sustainable careers?”
English Teacher won the 2024 Mercury Prize. Pic: PA
In March, singer Lily Fontaine, from this year’s Mercury Prize winners English Teacher, spoke in parliament about the “ongoing crisis”, alongside David Martin, chief executive of the Featured Artists Coalition trade body.
“Audiences are finding their purses are very tight and they can’t afford ticket price increases, they’re scaling back,” says Martin. “On the supply side, costs are going up. Artists are the biggest employers in the music industry. On the live side, artists pay for practically everything – accommodation, transport, rehearsals, session musicians… managers, crew, technicians, agents.”
According to the Music Venues Trust, 125 venues were forced to close or stop hosting live music in 2023 due to costs. So far this year, more than 70 festivals have closed.
But a recent report found that UK music’s contribution to the economy in 2023 hit a record £7.6bn, with exports also hitting a new high of £4.6bn – so there is money to be made.
“There are real issues about how artists have been locked into contracts that were perhaps signed before the digital era,” says Martin. “There is money in the system. It just needs to be distributed equitably.”
Kate Nash on OnlyFans. Pic: Emily Marcovecchio
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Earlier this month, the government announced plans to push through a voluntary levy on tickets for concerts at stadiums and arenas to help fund grassroots venues.
It’s a “massive step”, says Beyond The Music’s Pearson, but help is also needed for other areas of the industry such as recorded music, too: “There needs to be a massive cross-industry investment fund… something like the Football Foundation where the Premier League clubs invest in the grassroots to develop and nurture talent for the future of the sport.”
Some household names have kicked things off themselves, with Coldplay pledging to donate 10% of profits to help smaller venues, and Katy Perry giving £1 for every ticket sold, from their arena and stadium shows in 2025.
As for Nash, she says she did not “need” to join OnlyFans, but chose to so that she can run her operation ethically. “I pay good wages, I don’t travel dangerously… I want to put on high-quality shows. I won’t sacrifice those things.”
There is “no shame”, she says, in how difficult it is for performers to earn a living now. “And I’m in a unique situation because I had a number one record 20 years ago that still helps me reinvest into myself. But it’s still not enough. What about people that don’t have that?”
The singer says ultimately, she would rather make money through sharing her bottom pictures than through relinquishing control.
“Some people think [OnlyFans] is a compromise – that’s how I would feel in a more corporate setting,” she says.
“My bum is for sale – my artistic vision is not.”
Former Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has been ordered to pay £1.8m in tax.
The Ron Weasley actor lost a legal battle with HM Revenue and Customs in 2019 and was ordered to pay the sum following an investigation into his tax return from the 2011-12 tax year.
Grint had received a £4.5m sum from a company which managed his business affairs as “consideration for rights, records and goodwill” from his work, which he claimed was a “capital asset” and therefore the subject of capital gains tax.
But HMRC argued the fee should have been classed as income and after the investigation Mr Grint was told he needed to pay an additional £1,801,060 in tax.
Lawyers for Mr Grint appealed against HMRC’s decision at a hearing in the First-Tier Tribunal in London in November and December 2022.
They argued the right amount of tax had been paid.
But in a ruling Tribunal Judge Harriet Morgan dismissed the appeal.
She found the sum “is taxable as income” and said the money “derived substantially the whole of its value from the activities of Mr Grint”, which was “otherwise realised” as income in the 2011/12 tax year.
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Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Pic: Collection Christophel/Warner Bros/Alamy
Grint was 12 years old when he starred in Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, in 2001.
He is calculated to have earned around £24m for playing Ron Weasley.
Grint lost a separate court battle concerning a £1m tax refund in 2019.
It was once the venue of choice for the London glitterati but it appears the party is over for famed celebrity haunt The Groucho Club.
The club’s licence has now been suspended by Westminster City Council after a request by the Metropolitan Police.
Neither the police, nor the club itself, have shed any light on the “serious criminal offence” that forced it to close its doors, but it is not the first time the venue has been dogged with claims of illegality.
In its heyday, an upstairs room was apparently nicknamed the Peruvian Procurement Department, such was its reputation for the alleged availability of cocaine.
It is a startling fall from grace for a club once frequented by the likes of Princess Diana, Kate Moss, Harry Styles and even Ant and Dec.
Kate Moss leaving the Groucho Club. Photo by Rotello/Mcp/Shutterstock
The club was founded in 1985, at a time when very few private members’ clubs were open to women (and in fact, The Garrick Club only voted to allow women to become members this year – prior to that, they had to be invited in and accompanied around the building by a man).
A group of publishing heavyweights (Liz Calder from Bloomsbury, Carmen Callil from Virago and literary agents Ed Victor and Michael Sissons) wanted to invent a “new kind of club”, according to the official history of Groucho.
They wanted it to be “a place where the creatives can mingle, unwind, and spark some serious magic, regardless of gender, a club anyone could apply to join based on merit, the antithesis of the stuffy gentlemen’s clubs of the day”.
It would become “the blueprint for the modern members club”.
British television presenting duo Ant & Dec attend a party being held at the Groucho Club in 1996. Pic: Dave Benett/Getty
The club was named after Groucho Marx’s famous claim that he wouldn’t “want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members”.
The group (backed by club owner Tony Mackintosh) bought a slightly dilapidated townhouse on Dean Street for £450,000, raising roughly the same amount again to transform it into the “hottest ticket in town”.
Rod Stewart, Freddie Mercury, and Liam Gallagher were among the famous faces to visit, alongside Keira Knightly and Lily Allen (who was later given a year-long suspension from the club).
Such was the venue’s success at attracting members that a rival Soho club was said to have been launched purely to cater for rejected Groucho applicants.
Nigella Lawson hosted the party for her late husband’s book with Angus Deayton and Lisa Meyer at the Groucho Club. Photo by Alan Davidson/Shutterstock
Stories from inside the club soon became legend
There was the time Bill Clinton walked through the doors one Christmas, only to be serenaded by Bono singing “Happy Birthday Mr President”.
Julie Burchill, a columnist for The Times, wrote in a 2005 article commemorating Groucho’s 20th anniversary: “It seemed symptomatic of the times when my then best friend Toby Young had sex in the toilets with a Lady Diana impersonator.”
Young is on record as responding: “I can’t claim to have been the first person to have had sex in the Groucho Club’s toilets – the truth is we didn’t go all the way – but I’m sure it’s happened on numerous occasions. The irritating thing was that as I emerged, I was spotted.”
Pete Burns and Michael Simpson. Photo by Richard Young/Shutterstock
How did you become a member – and what were the rules?
“Two current members have to write to the committee to propose you,” wrote PR executive James Herring in 2005. “If you’ve been lucky enough to get the nod, you’ll then get a letter saying you’ll be able to join in three years’ time.”
Membership was reportedly £1,500 a year, and being a celebrity was not always a guaranteed entry. The Spice Girls were rejected by the membership committee, while Al Pacino was turned away at reception unrecognised.
To preserve privacy, after 5pm the use of mobile phones was strictly prohibited, unless you were taking a “short discreet” call. No photos or videos were allowed to be taken at any time inside.
The Groucho Book of Rules also states the following: “The wearing of string vests is fully unacceptable and wholly proscribed by Club Rules. There is enough distress in the world already.”
Noel Gallagher and Sara McDonald at the Groucho Club in 2013. Photo by Rotello/Shutterstock
The Prince of Soho
Overseeing the debauchery was front-of-house manager Bernie Katz, who partied with celebrities but was known for his discretion.
Nicknamed the “The Prince of Soho” by Stephen Fry, Katz was the son of notorious south London gangster Brian “Little Legs” Clifford.
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Clifford was a criminal and club owner who was murdered at home while he slept.
Katz, aged 17 at the time his father was shot, would later write in his memoir: “Never one to miss an opportunity, I sashayed over to his wardrobe and navigated my way across the sea of footwear to his black Pierre Cardin alligator skin shoes I’d secretly always had my eye on. Thank God they were in the wardrobe. You see something good always comes out of tragedy.”
A horse drawn hearse at Bernie Katz’s funeral. Photo by James Gourley/Shutterstock
He would become known for his discretion at the club, partying with celebrities and protecting their secrets until the end of his life.
Katz died suddenly, at the age of 49, with Sienna Miller, Noel Fielding and Jude Law turning out for his funeral – the latter giving a eulogy.
Sienna Miller leaving the Groucho Club – she ran out of a side door and was led to the wrong car. Photo by Shutterstock
The club’s downfall
Katz’s retirement (a few short months before his death) was seen by some as the beginning of the end for the club. In 2016, 14 veteran members wrote to general manager Matt Hobbs with complaints including “open drug taking” and arguing the club had lost its “unique feel”.
Hobbs left the club in 2018, a year after it had announced a 40% increase in the membership fee.
The company was bought in 2022 by Artfarm for a reported £40m.
According to The Times, a letter titled “RIP Groucho” circulated among members this summer, which pronounced the club “almost dead”, with complaints including rising costs and the decision to disband the old membership committee.
A charity has dropped Gregg Wallace as an ambassador after multiple allegations of “highly inappropriate” behaviour.
Wallace stepped down from hit BBC cooking show MasterChef on Thursday amid accusations he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Ambitious About Autism has now announced it is “no longer working with” the 60-year-old TV host “in light of recent allegations”.
“We have let him know our decision and thanked him for his support of our work over the last two years,” it said in a statement.
Wallace has three children and his youngest, five-year-old Sid, is non-verbal and autistic.
The presenter is yet to directly address any of the allegations but after his MasterChef exit was announced, he posted a short Instagram video thanking “all the people getting in touch [and] showing their support”.
The star’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, BBC News reported.
Sky News has contacted Wallace’s representative for comment.
The complaints are being investigated by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK.
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Gregg Wallace thanks supporters
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Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark was among a number of women who have spoken out about Wallace’s alleged behaviour this week.
In an interview with the BBC, Wark claimed she saw Wallace “use sexualised language in front of a number of people” when she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
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Gregg Wallace declines to comment
In light of the allegations, singer Sir Rod Stewart criticised Wallace on Instagram and claimed he “humiliated” his wife Penny Lancaster in 2021.
He wrote: “Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?
“You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully.”
A representative for Lancaster has now told Sky News: “While Penny is happy to talk to the appropriate authorities should they feel she has anything useful to add, she will not be discussing this matter with any broadcaster or newspaper at this time.”
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