The Sydney couple, who shot to fame on the Channel 10 dating show last year, took to Instagram with a lengthy statement addressing criticism they copped last week for saying they would never make a profile on the X-rated platform because they wanted to be “role models to future generations.”In an Instagram Q&A posted on their stories last Wednesday, Nicholson, 32, went one step further, adding he thought reality stars joining the subscription service for “empowerment” was “a load of crap.”Their comments were lashed by Chatfield, who dubbed their views “misogynistic” before she unfollowed the duo.Addressing the backlash in a lengthy joint Instagram post, Nicholson and Kingston, who have also since unfollowed Chatfield, said they would not be “bullied into submission”, as they lashed the “toxic trend” of cancelling those who share different views.“We have since been subjected to abusive messages, character assassinations, cancellation attempts, death threats and a gross invasion of the basic human right to feel safe in our own home,” the pair wrote in a new statement.“We get that not everyone will agree with us or like us. But it is such a sad reflection on the public conversation in Australia today that disagreement can morph into hatred so readily.“We believe that being ‘progressive and open-minded’ doesn’t mean you have the same, narrow worldview as other people who call themselves ‘progressive and open-minded’. It means you are willing to tolerate views that are different to your own.”They added, “It is not acceptable to bully, harass or threaten anyone whether you disagree with them or not.“Furthermore, if you have a public profile, we believe it is especially important to encourage a constructive non-biased discussion rather than an attack.”They added they were “not against OnlyFans”, but that they don’t believe it’s the “best way to promote male/female empowerment to young people.”“It’s a shame that social media sometimes doesn’t produce an environment that is conducive to open and informed debate,” they finished.It comes after Chatfield, who was previously friends with the pair, slammed the couple for “sex work shaming.”The newly-announced Masked Singer judge, 27, argued the couple’s claim that other reality stars “leverage fame to sell nudes online” was no different to how they went from The Bachelor to fully-fledged influencers.“Basically what you’re saying is ‘No judgment, but if you do this, not good, you’ve just leveraged off your reality TV experience’ – which is exactly what all of us have f**king done … We commodify content,” she said.“Obviously sex workers are very different in the way they are marginalised (and) the work that they do … I’m not saying influencers are the same as sex workers at all, but I’m saying in this regard, you saying your issue is that people are leveraging off their reality TV experience in order to make money … I don’t see how influencing in that regard is any different.”She explained: “I think promoting things like skin care and things you need to ingest and you have to trial out – that is literally using your body to sell a product.”“All you had to say was ‘Not for us but like all the power to you’.”
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