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Sky News, but her (mostly covered) bottom has faced criticism: “I’ve been called apocalyptic and a prostitute, which is outdated – it’s sex worker – but I’ll take ‘apocalyptic prostitute’ because it’s quite an epic title.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
Read more:
Inside the UK’s music festival crisis
‘There is no HR department in the music industry‘
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.”
Tommy Fury has opened up about having an alcohol problem – citing his drinking as the reason for his split from Molly-Mae Hague.
Hague, 25, shocked fans in August when she announced the end of her relationship with her then-fiancé, with whom she shares daughter Bambi, who turns two later this month.
Both stars had, until now, refused to publicly reveal the cause of the split. Fury, also 25, has now said the break-up came after he began “drinking quite a lot” while unable to train after hand surgery.
“I’d go out and just drink and drink and drink,” he told Men’s Health. “It went on that way for a long time.
“Most nights I would to drink to get black-out drunk. I think that’s what really took its toll on me.”
Shooting down claims he was unfaithful to Hague, Fury added: “Cheating was never a thing. You can ask Molly this yourself. It was the drink, and the drink is not a good thing. You need to get a grip of it.
“We broke up because I had a problem with alcohol and I couldn’t be the partner that I wanted to be anymore. It kills me to say it, but I couldn’t. I loved a pint of beer, loved to drink.”
Fury and Hague were together for five years. Pic: PA
Fury, who was seen spending New Year’s Eve with his ex, added he has “got himself out of that [drinking] now”.
Hague’s break-up announcement came just weeks after she had referred to Fury as the “love of my life” to mark their engagement anniversary on Instagram.
She later told Vogue UK: “No one will ever really know what went down apart from Tommy and I.
“I do think that he will talk about things eventually. I do think that when he’s ready, like, maybe more will be said. But I think that’s for him to do on his terms.”
More entertainment news:
BAFTA nominations revealed
Hollywood events delayed due to fires
Meanwhile, Fury labelled allegations he had cheated as “horrendous” and thanked “everybody who has stood by me through this”.
The pair met on Love Island in 2019 and welcomed their daughter in January 2023. Fury proposed seven months later in Ibiza.
Entertainment
BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed
This year’s BAFTA nominations have been revealed, with papal thriller Conclave leading the race.
Starring Ralph Fiennes as a clergyman responsible for the selection of the next Pope, the film is up for 12 awards – including best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini.
Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, is another best film nominee and has 11 BAFTA nods in total – with star Karla Sofía Gascón up for best actress and co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez both in the running in the supporting actress category.
Selena Gomez as Jessi and Karla Sofia Gascon as Emilia Perez in Emilia Perez. Pic: Why Not Productions/ Netflix
The Brutalist, an epic drama starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, has nine nominations – including best film and best actor, and supporting nods for co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.
Elsewhere there are seven nominations each for Wicked, Anora, and Dune: Part Two, six for A Complete Unknown and Kneecap, and five for Nosferatu and The Substance.
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Rappers Kneecap star in a self-titled music biopic about their rise to fame. Pic: Curzon Film
In the performance categories, Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) and Demi Moore, whose performance in body horror The Substance won her a Golden Globe earlier this month.
Fiennes and Brody’s best actor competitors are Timothee Chalamet, for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, along with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).
Kieran Culkin, another recent Golden Globe winner, makes the best supporting actor shortlist once again for his performance in A Real Pain, alongside Pearce and Yura Borisov (Anora), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).
Demi Moore has already won a Golden Globe for her performance as an actress whose star is on the wane in The Substance. Pic: Mubi
Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba in Wicked, and Jamie Lee Curtis, for her performance in The Last Showgirl, make up the best supporting actress shortlist.
For 14 of the 24 acting nominees – including Culkin, Grande, Gascon, Gomez and Moore – it is their first BAFTA film nomination.
Erivo and Chalamet are both previous recipients of the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.
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Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked. Pic: Universal Pictures
In the best director category, Conclave’s Edward Berger is in the running alongside Brady Corbet, for The Brutalist, Denis Villeneuve, for Dune: Part Two, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Sean Baker for Anora.
Baker also has nominations for best original screenplay, casting and editing, making him the most nominated individual this year.
The BAFTAs also includes a category for outstanding British film, with Conclave also shortlisted here alongside films including Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and Irish-language film Kneecap – which stars the rap trio of the same name in a semi-autobiographical account of their rise to fame.
In total, there are 42 films up for awards, spanning a range of genres.
“The film industry has delivered in spades once again,” said BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip.
“The skills on display from creative and technical practitioners across the board are phenomenal,” added BAFTA chair Sara Putt.
Could this be the most competitive BAFTAs for years?
What do you get if you bring several priests, a Mexican cartel leader and an architect together under one roof?
Not the world’s most niche fancy dress party, but 2025’s BAFTA film awards shortlist.
Jazz hands and jump scares are the order of the day. Horror is unusually well represented this year, with The Substance, Heretic and Nosferatu all receiving nods, while musicals are also dominating thanks to Emilia Perez, Wicked and, arguably, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
Speaking of music, it’s very good news for Irish language rappers Kneecap, whose self-titled semi-true biopic is up for best British film and five other awards. It’s somewhat ironic given that while they rap about wanting Irish independence, the film qualifies as being British as they’re from Northern Ireland.
In the leading actress category, it’s all to play for as none of the nominees has ever won a BAFTA. Fans of ’90s nostalgia will be hoping the Demi-ssaince continues after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win last month for her performance in body horror The Substance.
Hugh Grant, up for lead actor, last won that BAFTA back in 1995 for his breakthrough performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral. This time around, he’s in the running for a very different role, as a creepy killer in Heretic. He’s nominated alongside another ’90s winner – Ralph Fiennes, who last picked up a BAFTA for supporting actor in 1994.
The nominations this year really showcase a diverse range of genres – and with no clear frontrunners in some categories, could this be the most competitive BAFTAs we’ve seen in a while?
Read more:
The full list of films and stars up for awards
Oscar nominations and other events affected by LA fires
The nominees for this year’s rising star award, which is the only BAFTA prize voted for by the public, have already been announced, with Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan in the running.
And Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has also been revealed as the recipient of this year’s BAFTA fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour, for his “trailblazing work” as an actor and for his charity supporting people with dwarfism.
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Marisa Abela is among the rising star nominees
The BAFTA nominations come at a difficult time for the industry, with the organisers of several US awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, pushing their own announcements back and holding more low-key events due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
However, the Oscars ceremony is still currently scheduled to go ahead as planned on Sunday 2 March.
The BAFTA ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 16 February.
There are 42 films up for awards at this year’s BAFTA ceremony, from blockbusters to indie breakthroughs.
Organisers have now revealed the shortlists, with papal thriller Conclave leading the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.
The star-studded BAFTA ceremony will take place in London on Sunday 16 February.
Here’s the full list of the stars and films up for each prize.
Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s Conclave. Pic: Focus Features 2024
BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Bird
Blitz
Conclave
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Rappers Kneecap star in a music biopic about their rise to fame. Pic: Curzon Film
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director/ writer)
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer)
Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director)
Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer)
Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perez
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Pic: Netflix
ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
DIRECTOR
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
Mikey Madison in Anora. Pic: Neon/Augusta Quirk
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown – James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave – Peter Straughan
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
LEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in Wicked. Pic: PA
LEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce in The Brutalist. Pic: A24
CASTING
Anora – Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
The Apprentice – Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A Complete Unknown – Yesi Ramirez
Conclave – Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Kneecap – Carla Stronge
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Conclave – Stephanie Fontaine
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Emilia Perez – Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke
EDITING
Anora
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Kneecap
Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Pic: Searchlight Pictures
COSTUME DESIGN
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Nosferatu
Wicked
MAKE-UP & HAIR
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked
ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Wild Robot
Demi Moore in The Substance. Pic: Mubi
PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked
SOUND
Blitz
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
The Substance
Wicked
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Wicked
Robbie Williams is depicted as a chimpanzee in Better Man. Pic: Paramount Pictures
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Adios
Mog’s Christmas
Wander To Wonder
BRITISH SHORT FILM
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing
Marion
Milk
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Stomach Bug
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Marisa Abela
Jharrel Jerome
David Jonsson
Mikey Madison
Nabhaan Rizwan
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