>> New research indicates that an additional 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty
since the summer. And this, of course, is a result of the pandemic
and the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs as a result of shutdowns.
Now, one 23 year old EMT worker who couldn't survive on her salary as a paramedic
decided to join OnlyFans, which is primarily used by people who post some sultry pictures.
They're scantily clad. It's subscription-based. And so she was doing this to make ends meet.
And the New York Post decided to shame her for it. So let's talk a little bit
about what they did. Lauren Kwei, who's 23 years old, a New York-based paramedic,
turned to posting semi-racy content on the platform to supplement her income.
She also reportedly worked as a hostess at a Korean restaurant,
meaning that like many Americans, she juggled multiple jobs in order to eke out a living.
Now that's the story, that's the story, that is the focus.
The focus is why are we as a country that has a tremendous amount of productivity,
tremendous amount of wealth, why do we have people living in these types of conditions?
Where they have to take several jobs, where they have to do things like join OnlyFans
in order to make ends meet? But that's not what the New York Post took away from the story.
They decided instead, maybe it's a good idea to shame her for this decision that she's making.
And so New York Post reporters Susan Edelman and Dean Balsamini decided to dox her, essentially.
They hit up her mother and her employer, okay, and asked about her page on OnlyFans,
and informed them about the fact that she had a page on that website. The story was headlined,
NYC medic helped make ends meet with racy OnlyFans side gig, states Kwei, was not only secretive
about her online exploits and had the audacity to include her last name in her social profile.
So they're not only shaming her. They're basically saying look at what she's doing,
and she's awful enough and dumb enough to include her real name.
This is what they got out of the story. Why are they even writing about her?
If they're gonna write about her to make a point about people in desperate situations
and how we need to do something about a rigged economic system, that's one thing.
But that wasn't the point here. Jon, I have more details,
but I wanna hear your thoughts. >> So in theory, could there have been a way to do
the story where you didn't out her to her employer and her family? Probably not, there probably would
have been no way to just use it as a case study, but keep her privacy and all of that.
That's probably impossible. But really, so is this what the New York Post is? Cuz I got
news for them, there's more than one person on OnlyFans. What are they gonna wreck one person's
life each week? Is it gonna be a daily feature? What exactly is the newsworthiness of this?
>> No- >> Obviously,
it's emblematic of the economic situation that many people have been thrust into.
But in terms of focusing on her as an individual in this way, that's just
madness. That is just trying to take her life and to titillate people with a headline. And they've
gotten pushback from this for the past couple of days, but I don't think it is nearly enough.
They should have to answer for this and explain
how this got through not just the writer who's doing it, but the editor who okayed it. How is
this a thing that actually made it to print? >> Well, I think that this story,
among others that the New York Post got attention for this year,
makes it at least incredibly clear to me that this is not some sort of journalistic organization.
They've been referred to as a tabloid. But understand that tabloids typically
like to write all sorts of ridiculous, salacious stuff about celebrities,
people who are public figures, people who have wealth. And I'm not saying that they
deserve it and it's okay when tabloids do it to people in positions of power.
But they're worse, my point is this is worse than what tabloids do. Because this is punching down.
This is going after a person who has no power and shaming her. And the story gets worse, believe it
or not. So after she was contacted by the Post, she deleted some photos on her OnlyFans page,
which she told the Post she took down in the hopes, this is the most depressing.
She took down in the hopes that I won't lose my job in the middle of a
pandemic and three weeks before Christmas, adding that her employer SeniorCare had
asked to meet with her after being contacted by the Post. Now look,
luckily, and to be honest with you, shockingly, her employer did not fire her.
I thought it was definitely gonna happen. Employers get scared by things like this. I mean,
I remember back in the day, early years of TYT, we would do these stories about teachers,
for instance, who had a past in adult work, adult films,
things like that. And they would end up getting fired, even though they've done nothing wrong.
These are legal jobs. Why are they getting fired? Now they're educators,
and they have the credentials to be educators. So I was surprised that she didn't get fired, but I'm
incredibly happy that she didn't. The Post though, as I mentioned earlier,
contacted her mother and her employer. And she told Rolling Stone this,
most of the quotes in that article are me defending myself to this reporter.
He did not include that I begged him to remain anonymous, which was never
agreed to. And that I told him my safety and job were going to be at risk if he posted
the article. He truly did not care. And she's specifically referring to Dean Balsamini here,
who was one of the reporters on this hard-hitting story where they're
smearing and attacking a young woman who is clearly in a desperate situation.
And I wanted to read one more quote. She says, I did not ask my parents for help because I'm
adult and wanted to make my own money. I never once spoke of my pictures at work
or used my job as a paramedic to solicit subscribers.
I know I did nothing wrong, and I have nothing to be ashamed of.
And she's right, she has nothing to be ashamed of. The people who have something to be ashamed of
are our lawmakers who have been complicit in a system
that leads to these desperate situations. >> Yeah, and the reporter. I like to play
devil's advocate. And so I'm trying to come up with some possible, plausible explanation for why,
even if you were going to continue to do this story when she doesn't want you to,
if she asks you to not identify her personally, how you could as a human say, no, I'm doing it?
I'm doing a story and I'm identifying you. And I'm gonna go around and I'm gonna talk to everyone you
know. Is it hyperbolic to say that that is an act on a small scale of evil, to not care at all about
this? And for what stakes? Is the story better somehow because you have that person's name?
What would have happened if he hadn't done the story at all? I cannot conceive of a person
making that choice or that series of choices. >> If this story were assigned to me, and I mean,
first of all, I'd say no, I'm not doing the story. And if it was gonna be held against me, I'd quit.
I'd rather quit than cover a story like this in the way that it was covered. If you're coming
at me with an assignment regarding, man, this economic situation is so bad for so many people
that OnlyFans profiles really exploded during the pandemic, which by the way is true.
Okay, that's an interesting story, right, because you're specifically covering the
economic realities of Americans. Which is not just an interesting story, it's an important story.
This, not an important story. This is just an effort to shame someone
who's just trying to take care of herself, to pay her bills.
And there are so many Americans who are in similarly desperate situations. And keep in
mind, this is someone who's employed. This is someone who's a paramedic. The fact that EMTs
don't make enough money to survive, and these are people who have special training and everything,
it's shameful. >> Yeah.
>> Beyond shameful. I can't say the words I wanna say on this show about how that makes me feel. And
that's what the story should be. But The New York Post has decided,
no. Instead, we're gonna go ahead and shame someone who is powerless.