A documentary about OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue, who claims to have slept with 1,000 men, has triggered backlash from major advertisers.
Watch 1,000 Men And Me: The Bonnie Blue Story On Channel 4 for Free in the US
The program, aired last week on the UK’s Channel 4 and still available on its streaming platform, has come under fire for allegedly glamorising pornography. As a result, brands like Visa, Smirnoff (owned by Diageo), and Cawston Press have reportedly pulled their ads from airing alongside the documentary.
England’s children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, also criticised the film, saying it “glamorises” and “normalises” extreme pornography.
Titled 1,000 Men And Me, the documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at Bonnie Blue—real name Tia Billinger—as she attempts to sleep with over 1,000 men in just 12 hours. One scene shows young models dressed as schoolchildren preparing to film an orgy, while the film has been widely condemned for including graphic sexual scenes featuring “barely legal” men.
Read More: UK Pornography Taskforce to Propose Banning ‘Barely Legal’ Content After Channel 4 Documentary Airs
The controversy has sparked renewed calls for the UK government to update the country’s crime and policing bill to ban content that features “barely legal” actors in scenes that could be seen as child sexual abuse.
Channel 4, which previously faced backlash in 2013 for its documentary Dogging Tales, stood by its decision to broadcast the film. The network defended it by saying Blue “has gained worldwide attention and earned millions of pounds in the last year, exploring changing attitudes to sex, success, porn and feminism in an ever-evolving online world”.
Director Victoria Silver puts a number of challenges to Bonnie throughout the documentary on the example she sets and how she is perceived, and the film clearly lays bare the tactics and strategies she uses, with the audience purposefully left to form their own opinions.
A spokesperson added
The documentary is the latest in a string of controversies involving Blue, who was recently ejected from a Premier League match in Nottingham after making a vulgar gesture. She is a dedicated Chelsea FC fan, a team often referred to as “the Blues.”
Source: B&T