Instagram Deleted Nude Model’s Account After She Raised Reported $1 Million For Australia Fires
- Funny
- Offensive
“Not All Heroes Wear Clothes”
January 8th, 2020 – A California sex worker and model claims to have raised nearly $1 million for bushfire relief efforts in Australia, but her methods of fundraising have gotten her banned from Instagram. 20-year old Kaylen Ward sent out a tweet on January 3rd asking her followers to make a verified donation to a variety of charities and in exchange she would DM them a nude photo of herself.
That night alone, Ward raised around $7,000, and when she woke up the next morning the tweet had gone viral.
“I’m sending nudes to every person who donates at least $10 to any one of these fundraisers for the wildfires in Australia,” she tweeted.” Every $10 you donate = one nude picture from me to your DM. You must send me confirmation that you donated. Please RT #AustraliaOnFire #AustraliaFires“
Complying with online community standards, Ward appropriately chose an angel emoji to cover her down under in the post.
I’m sending nudes to every person who donates atleast $10 to any one of these fundraisers for the wildfires in Australia. Every $10 you donate = one nude picture from me to your DM. You must send me confirmation that you donated.
— THE NAKED PHILANTHROPIST (@lilearthangelk) January 4, 2020
Please RT #AustraliaOnFire #AustraliaFires pic.twitter.com/VIgzCUy6Wf
The tweet now has over 220,000 likes and nearly 90,000 retweets. On January 6th, Ward announced that her naked philanthropy had raised an estimated $1 million. She also informed followers that she would no longer be accepting DM’d donations and expressed frustration with those who accused her of championing this cause simply for publicity.
Ward shared about losing her family, relationships, and her Instagram account.
I raised $1mil for Australia at the sake of my naked body being exposed on the internet to millions and millions of people. That’s a scary feeling to be that vulnerable and exposed to the world. But I did it because I wanted to do something good.
— THE NAKED PHILANTHROPIST (@lilearthangelk) January 7, 2020
My IG got deactivated, my family disowned me, and the guy I like won’t talk to me all because of that tweet. But fuck it, save the koalas.
— THE NAKED PHILANTHROPIST (@lilearthangelk) January 5, 2020
The fires in Australia have burned millions of acres leaving over 20 people dead and half a billion animals killed.
One day after Ward’s fundraising announcement, Instagram claimed she was violating its Community Guidelines by posting “sexually suggestive content.”
“This account was disabled for violating our policies. Offering nude images is not allowed on Instagram,” a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
Despite the setbacks and some derogatory criticism, Ward says the fires in Australia are personal to her as she watched her family and friends flee from their homes last year during the the Carr and Camp fires in northern California.
“I got to see firsthand how many people were affected,” she said about her personal experience in California. “I was seeing all the posts on Twitter about the Australian fires and I was really concerned there wasn’t a lot of media coverage and not a lot of people donating. I donated $1,000 myself,” she told Guardian Australia. “I had a substantial amount of followers, maybe 30,000 at the time, and I thought that a lot of my followers would pitch in and send in some donations for the wildfires.”
Rising above Instagram, Ward has partnered with OnlyFans, a platform where fans can pay a subscription fee to view NSFW content. Their current arrangement will donate 20 percent of Ward’s earnings to the relief efforts in Australia.
“While other platforms have shut Kaylen Ward down, we decided to step in and give our full support towards this great cause,” Pym told Vox in an email. “This also felt like the right thing to do as a company. We care about the environment and the bushfires in Australia are also directly affecting members of our extended global OnlyFans family.”
And Ward is still getting attention, and positive jokes, over on Twitter.
A woman @lilearthangelk raised $100k in a day for charity by sending nudes to people who had proof of donating to the Aussie wildfires and all I gotta say is not all heroes wear clothes.
— WitchyTwitchy Ⓥ (@witchytwitchytv) January 5, 2020