In brief: Lily Phillips: The British OnlyFans star fronts “Body Count,” the episode that opened season two of Headline Newds, a climate-news web series that features adult creators, according to Mashable’s Sept. 16 report.
For a while now the internet has wanted to talk about one number attached to Lily Phillips. This season she agreed to talk about it, then swapped in a much bigger one.
The British OnlyFans star fronts “Body Count,” the episode that opened season two of Headline Newds, a climate-news web series that features adult creators, according to Mashable’s Sept. 16 report. Mashable said the series was created by Adam McKay, the director behind The Big Short and Don’t Look Up, alongside performer and writer Bree Essrig, performer and director Megan Prescott and filmmaker Jessica Riches. It launched in April, and Phillips’ video kicked off the new season.
The setup is simple: Phillips takes the world’s fixation with her body count and hands the title to the fossil-fuel industry. Mashable quotes her punchline: “Big Oil fucks more people every day than I can do in a lifetime.” The episode itself is up on YouTube and OnlyFans TV.
Prescott explained the strategy to journalist Helen Meriel Thomas, as quoted by Mashable:
“Sex workers can change the world. That’s our ethos. They are the messengers we need.”
Prescott and Riches told Thomas the idea is to use the relationships fans already have with these creators to get the message through. Mashable also noted performer Ivy Maddox as another recent addition, with the project promising more “very special stars.”
Why it matters, in our read: Phillips is usually the subject of headlines, not the one reading them. Here the stunt-economy notoriety is the delivery system, and the joke only works because everyone already knows the setup. It may be the smartest use of a viral reputation we’ve seen this season. The audience that clicked to judge her number ends up hearing someone else’s.
Will it move climate policy? Probably not on its own. But it may be the first climate explainer whose comment section is fighting about the right thing.