New York Post Slammed After Outing First Responder for Having an OnlyFans Account to Make Ends Meet
By Bryan Ke
December 16, 2020
People online are now supporting a New York City paramedic, who posted pictures on OnlyFans to overcome financial difficulties in her profession after the New York Post outed her in an article.
The article: The New York Post published an article on Lauren Caitlyn Kwei, a 23-year-old paramedic who worked for SeniorCareEMS, on Dec. 12. In it, she revealed how she had to take on multiple jobs and eventually started posting pictures on the subscription-based website to “make ends meet” for herself and her family.
- “At the end of the day, it doesn’t affect how I treat people,” Kwei told New York Post. “What I do in my free time is my business. It has no effect on how I care for my patients. I know when I’m working, I’m a paramedic. I think I’m pretty good at my job.”
- Kwei told the publication she moved to New York from West Virginia in 2015 to “pursue the performing arts.” She graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in the Upper West Side in 2017.
- She realized that it wasn’t for her and decided to switch career paths, choosing to study at an EMT school in September 2017 and graduated in February 2018. Her reason was that she felt she “wasn’t giving back to my community.”
- A month later, she found a job at SeniorCare EMS, where she continued for a year at minimum wage. Kwei revealed that she had to quit the job to finish her training at the Center for Allied Health Education to work as a hostess at a Korean steakhouse so she could finish her studies and pay for tuition. She graduated in February 2020 and returned to SeniorCare.
- Kwei began posting on OnlyFans in August 2019 as a way to support herself and her family.
- “There are plenty of people who are medical professionals who have every right to do what they want with their own bodies,” she said. “I’m not doing it at work. Health care workers aren’t making a lot of money. And I’m not the only one trying to make ends meet.”
- In the last part of the article, the Post interviewed a veteran FDNY paramedic, who criticized her for her choice of extra income. “Other EMTs and paramedics make more money by pulling extra shifts, instead of pulling off their clothes,” he said.
The aftermath: After the interview, Kwei reportedly set her social media accounts to private and removed her OnlyFans posts on Nov. 27. She currently does not have an OnlyFans account.
- She later gave behind-the-scenes details on what happened during the “interview” with reporter Dean Balsamini, who did not include the part where she can be heard crying over the phone.
- “Let me be very clear: I did not want the NY Post to run this article, much less use my name,” Kwei said in her post. “When Dean Balsamini first ‘interviewed’ me, he did not tell me what this was about until after I disclosed most of my background. He did not include in his article that I started crying on the phone when he finally did tell me what he was inquiring about.”
- She also claimed Balsamini called her employer and her mother to ask for a comment. Kwei went back to their home in West Virginia to spend time with her family after her father suffered a cardiac arrest.
- In a GoFundMe set up on her behalf, Kwei said she wanted to remain anonymous in the article, but the New York Post went behind her back and published her full name instead.
- “The newspaper and journalist (male) decided against honoring her request instead quoting her and misquoting her making her appear flippant and uncaring,” it read. “In reality Lauren is now at risk of losing her job, losing her ability to help support her family, her father is extremely ill and Lauren has nowhere to turn.”
- The campaign has raised over $68,000 out of its original $5,000 goal, as of this writing.
Show of support: After the news went viral, many people rallied behind Kwei to voice their support for the NYC paramedic, according to Heavy.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Representative of the 14th Congressional district, which includes Queens and Bronx where Kwei currently lives, showed her support on Twitter.
- Others also accused the Post of “slut-shaming,” The Wrap reported.
- Writer, activist and Army vet Charlotte Clymer, and Joe Evans, who ran for Congress in Idaho, called out the article.
- Here’s what other people are saying online:
Featured Image via @foxxyllama
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