What Porn Stars Really Think of the Fans Who Tweet at Them All Day

Beneath the tweets of the adult industry’s stars, dozens of unrequited messages go unanswered. When Lana Rhoades posts a video of herself in a bra and underwear for her 880,000 Twitter followers, for example, she receives countless heart emojis from her fans and comments like, “Those are some nice filet mignon, juicy,” and “That’s a delicious and very healthy ass,” mostly from men who are ostensibly tweeting from their main accounts. 

These guys who relentlessly tweet at porn stars are the butt of countless jokes, made at the expense of what many see as a cringe-y, even sad public display of loneliness and horniness. 

But what do the recipients, the porn stars themselves, think of these comments?

You might be surprised to learn that, for the most part, they think they’re actually kind of nice. “I’d say that out of all the entertainers I know, adult film stars have a special and unique relationship with our fans,” explains adult actress and MEL columnist Tasha Reign. “They oftentimes feel very intimate with us, and if it’s virtual, I’m okay with that. We do have die-hard fans, and in this new age, they can reach us via Twitter. I feel like I want them to know how much I appreciate them and then, of course, that I’m a person with boundaries. I would say I’ve lucked out with my ‘Reigndeer,’ and I’m grateful to have them.”

For many explicit content creators like Reign, fostering this intimate virtual connection with fans is essential. As my colleague Miles Klee explained last year, platforms like OnlyFans are transforming the industry:

“For a while now, though, web piracy has been eating the industry alive, and popular streaming ‘tube’ sites for porn are viewed as parasites by many creators. In a digital landscape, conventional studio porn is all but dying. Platforms like OnlyFans and JustForFans, meanwhile, look to be on the upswing, with performers more than happy to rake in money with private, pay-only feeds: ‘I know people in the porn industry who have all of this content and they’re just churning it out to upwards of 5,000 fans making $40,000 a month,’ [adult performer Jack] Mackenroth told Gay Star News.” 

And while stars like Reign may have found popularity within studio porn, fan-driven sites are a vital part of keeping that popularity thriving. Reign and Rhoades, in fact, each do much of their advertising for their own paid platforms through Twitter. 

Porn star Lotus Lain (who has also written for MEL) goes so far as to say that she thinks the guys who tweet at her are actually kind of cool. “They may not be ‘cool’ in the traditional 1980s jock sense, but they’re cool in a ‘who gives a fuck’ kinda way,” she says. “They tend to have a more positive attitude about sex work and those of us that do it — they attempt to listen to us, and they certainly try to understand us and treat us as if we’re all just homies that know each other from work.” 

Adult performer and writer Ty Mitchell expresses a similar sentiment. “In general, it’s all flattering and sweet,” he says. “As I’ve gotten a lot of followers who aren’t fluent in English or who just might not be as meme-literate, I’ve had to restrain myself from saying anything all that sarcastic or brash, or I’ll get a lot of replies missing the joke. I’ve come to accept that most of my following is using the platform primarily for porn and expressing themselves sexually, so I expect people to reply to me pornographically. I throw them a like (it’s free) and take it in stride.” (Mitchell also notes, however, that he may not be the subject of harassment as frequently as women or Black porn actors.) 

For the most part, then, adult entertainers find the responses a non-sex worker might consider “creepy” to be perfectly normal. Recently on Twitter, actress Janice Griffith engaged in a conversation with a follower who suggested her fans were creepy, saying, “I don’t subscribe to the idea that all of my fans or people who enjoy consuming porn are creeps/disgusting.” She later followed up by reiterating, “It again, doesn’t make you a creep to watch and consume porn, buy stuff from or for people you’re a fan of… I don’t get it, if I complain about a fan’s behavior I get attacked [from people saying] ‘YOU WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR FANS’ but when I stand up for them because it’s not weird to watch porn y’all get weird? Make it make sense.” 

Griffith has also made it a point to publicly shame rude or demeaning comments she’s received, while celebrating the kind ones. 

But what do the tweeting fans themselves actually get out of such a publicly horny presence on social media? Why, in short, would one open themselves up to the kind of ridicule I touched on earlier? 

One anonymous porn fan, a 24-year-old guy from Mexico, explains to me that though he does respond to adult actress tweets, as well as nude cosplayers, he’s often embarrassed about doing so. “I kinda feel uncomfortable, mostly because I feel some fear about me getting seen in a bad way just because I like porn actresses and their work,” he says. 

Still, he’s curious about the performers, and sees replying to their tweets as a potential way of learning more about them. “I mostly do it to see how they feel when they shoot their work, what inspires them to do a scene, what do they love and what they dream to do,” he says.

Most of the time, he doesn’t receive a response. And while that doesn’t stop him, it definitely makes being horny on main that much more worth it when his digital overtures are recognized. “I can understand that they might be too busy to reply, but I really appreciate it when they do,” he explains. “It gives me a good impression [that] they care about the good comments and support their fans give to their work. I always appreciate even just a like; it makes me feel pretty good!”

---

Magdalene Taylor

Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.