Actor’s (Inactive) OnlyFans Account Gets Him Fired

A North Carolina theater actor was let go by his theater company just an hour before his first rehearsal after they discovered his OnlyFans account. 

Though shocking and unjust, this is hardly the first time we’ve seen someone get fired for having an OnlyFans account. In fact, we’ve even seen bands get booted off tours, banks refusing service, and Instagram accounts getting shut down, all because the people in question have an OnlyFans. 

Andrew Bonomolo grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, before moving to New York City to continue working in theater. He had a successful account on X (formerly Twitter) which he used to promote the NSFW content he made on OnlyFans. Using the name Troye Jacobs, he frequently posted explicit photos and videos to his OnlyFans, also starring in several adult films. Bonomolo is openly gay, and had built a prolific adult career, but recently, he wanted to close that chapter of his life. According to Bonomolo, he hadn’t shot any adult content in more than a year. He had moved back to North Carolina when he was cast in Fayetteville Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s production of Bright Star. 

Bright Star is a bluegrass musical set in 1940’s North Carolina that features music from musician and actor Steve Martin and songwriter Edie Brickell. 

Obviously, Bonomolo uprooting his life, moving back to North Carolina just to be fired had him pretty frustrated. “There’s an irony here I can’t ignore. Bright Star is about someone who is shunned and punished for being sexually active and making their own choices,” Bonomolo stated. “And the villain in the story shames them because he’s afraid someone else’s truth will ruin his own reputation. And here I am, let go from that very production because of my own past. I’m not trying to place blame, but you can’t help but notice the show they’re producing is telling the exact story that just happened to me,” he concluded. 

While the theater didn’t give Bonomolo a reason for his termination, he says they “informally told” him it was because they discovered his history as an adult performer.

“It is my firm belief that sex work is work and there should be no world in which that allows jobs to terminate you based on their prejudice,” Bonomolo stated in a video addressing the situation that he uploaded to his TikTok.

Bonomolo further argues that his firing is “hypocritical”, stating that theater is supposed to welcome people of all walks of life, not shun them for their past. In fact, there are plenty of plays that center around sex symbols or prostitutes who are celebrated. “Think about it, in the theater we award people who play strippers, sex workers and hyper-sexualized icons,” Bonomolo said. “We applaud them and award them for the bravery it takes to bring these characters to the stage. But the second they find out that actors actually have a history in adult entertainment or sex work, suddenly you’re a liability. Suddenly you’re unprofessional.”

Bonomolo also points out the hypocrisy of Broadway Bares, a burlesque show put on by theater actors to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. “Every year, literally hundreds of actors strip down to their G-strings for charity, and it’s hailed as artistic and liberating,” Bonomolo said. “So let me get this straight. Turning your body into art for a fundraiser makes you a hero, but doing it to pay your rent and make a living makes you unemployable?” 

The young actor claims Cape Fear Regional Theatre is attempting to “silence” him, but assures fans he's going to fight back. “I will say it a million times, sex work is work.”