When he gets on the phone with XBIZ, Chris Crocker is still flummoxed by his recent XBIZ Cam Awards win as Social Media Influencer. Rather than stick to a strict schedule, he posts clips to his popular OnlyFans account according to whatever might be happening in his personal life. And the content may be erotic or something else entirely that Crocker felt like exploring in the moment.
It’s that kind of restless creative spirit and commitment to vulnerability and reinvention that has thousands of fans hanging on his every move. But he never dreamed that his efforts could be considered “influential.”
I have always been an exhibitionist … it’s emotional porn I’m putting out, baring my soul.
“I think the award is interesting,” he mused, “because my message has always been, ‘Don’t let the room change you. You speak up and change the room.’ I don’t see myself as an influencer as much as I see myself encouraging others to believe in themselves. And if I can influence them to do that, I’m happy!”
His X-rated clips on OnlyFans are essentially documents of his actual sex life.
“It’s everything from solos to hookups with beautiful men like Matthew Camp,” he said. “I try to post as often as I engage in sex, because you’re essentially monetizing your sex life.”
Crocker is energized by the autonomy his OnlyFans success affords him. His previous dips into adult filmmaking were unsatisfying, including a shoot with his then-boyfriend earlier in the decade. The project turned the nexus of gossip and adult on its ear when it was announced.
Unfortunately, Crocker and his partner broke up shortly before their content was released, and the young star was forced to reinvent himself yet again. Thankfully, the emergence of such user-generated content platforms as OnlyFans proved an irresistible opportunity.
“Being able to record yourself, set your own prices, and decide who you film with has changed the entire industry and the way we view what porn is. It’s a completely different world from even five years ago,” he said.
The prospect of shooting more traditional-media porn had been intimidating to someone like Crocker who was accustomed to filming himself.
“I didn’t like being unable to control how I was seen or my angles that were being shot,” he recalled. “And now? You’re in control of everything and it’s made an industry that could be intimidating into something you’re in total control over — in terms of your own experience. I think it’s liberating. I don’t have to leave my house to make money.”
He has chosen to utilize only one platform to feature his content, despite lucrative hosting offers that arrive regularly from other companies.
“You don’t want to spread your audience too thin. I want to just have one home place for fans to go to so their heads aren’t spinning about where to get content,” he said. “If I’m a fan of someone and I want to see them fuck, I want one consolidated place to find it. you can get whiplash looking around, wondering where to go.”
Crocker chuckles when he is asked to revisit a question about the nuts-and-bolts of how he plans, films and posts clips.
“You see how I dodged that question? I film as I fuck, which is not an all-the-time thing. There’s no strict schedule. I know a lot of people who do that — the way YouTubers will post at specific times on certain days of the week. I don’t do that. If subscribers aren’t feeling it, they can unsubscribe at any time.”
His personalized process for posting content reflects his current interests. Crocker cites a fan-favorite real-life couple whose DIY aesthetic has been an inspiration.
“I have to give credit to the Maverick Men. I’ve always seen that as the future of porn,” he said. “After vlogs started happening, and then YouTube, there’s nothing that people like more than ‘reality.’ I’m not big into lights or setups. I like that real, visceral feeling — you know these are two people that want to fuck and they’re not stopping to set up cameras.”
He marvels that OnlyFans and similar platforms have “changed the meaning of doing porn,” citing social media influencers on Instagram who track him down to pick his brain about following a similar track.
“They’re intrigued by the idea of being their own boss with their websites. Before, porn could be liberating in an expressionistic way, but you still did not have choice in scene partners and what you’re getting paid. So this has opened a lot of people’s minds to the possibilities of what porn could be now,” he said. “And I think even people who have been in porn are figuring that out now, too. It’s changed everything from porn to music to fashion, makeup, business, you name it — everything.”
Crocker is currently most active on Facebook and Instagram. “Twitter deleted me for having the song ‘Macarena’ in a video,” he grumbled. “That’s another story.”
He has reconciled with the fact that the viral clip that made him instantly infamous around the world — an emotionally raw cry of solidarity with then-beleaguered Britney Spears — will always follow him. But when he famously deleted his YouTube channel in 2014, much of that original, fervent fan base melted away. Today, he’s built a largely new following who are utterly disinterested in how their idol first became famous.
“I rebuilt on 2016 on Facebook and Instagram. And I look different. My fans today are not here for the ‘Britney guy’ storyline. They’re not interested,” he said. “I started making videos when I was 17. If you’re not different by 31, almost 32, then something’s wrong. You can’t get caught up in that whole thing — to try and stay as what people think you are so you can stay relevant. Ultimately it doesn’t work like that. You have to keep going forward.”
He is thoughtful about what he perceives as a through-line from his days as a viral YouTube star to the current incarnation of Chris Crocker.
“I have always been an exhibitionist, whether it’s emotional porn I’m putting out, baring my soul — that’s always felt a lot more vulnerable for me. Once you do that, and you become a punchline to people — if I can bare my soul like that and people laugh at me — being naked on camera is nothing.”
As the interview winds down, Crocker returns to a topic that has energized him: sex workers’ rights. In fact, he used his XBIZ Cam Awards speech to express support for the cause. “I think as much as we enjoy how fun and liberating our work is, we must continue to rally together to elect government officials who will revise SESTA/FOSTA. Sex workers and adult performers deserve to have our work be seen as legitimate. That’s why we must get diligent in speaking out and voting for people who have our best interests at heart.”
