ASMR enthusiasts are noticing a concerning trend among some of their favourite creators.
As ASMRtist GwenGwiz pivoted to a tradwife lifestyle, we saw a once-openly queer and feminist influencer fall down the conservative pipeline. While many of Gwen’s long-time fans remain skeptical of her commitment to these beliefs, her transformation serves as a cautionary tale.
Angelica ASMR, another popular creator in the community, has seemingly followed suit. In June of this year, Angelica started spouting conservative political views across her social media— a stark departure from her previous leftist beliefs.
Who is Angelica ASMR?
Angelica created her channel in 2015 and began posting ASMR content the following year. She gained recognition for her unconventional ASMR roleplays, where she pretended to be an array of characters— including a plastic surgeon and an epidemiologist. However, the video that catapulted her to viral fame within the ASMR community was when she roleplayed as a WWII nurse in November 2016.
Since then, Angelica has amassed over 650K subscribers on her ASMR channel. She later started another channel called Angelica’s Grass, where she would post video essays.
Her second channel has accumulated 34K subscribers since 2019.
Much like Gwen, Angelica started an OnlyFans and was active on the platform until May of this year.
After deciding to stop posting explicit content, she returned to the Angelica’s Grass channel with a video titled “Onlyfans Hurts Young Girls.” This was the first time she had posted on her second channel in almost six months.
She begins the video by listing the types of people who shouldn’t start an OnlyFans, claiming that it can be dangerous for anyone “under 23” or “people with people-pleasing habits, anyone that has a mental illness… [or someone] who is very chaotic.” Angelica also notes that celebrities like Cardi B have “brainwashed” many young girls into thinking this lifestyle is “normal.”
“We’re living in a technological age that’s never been seen before. Screens are becoming our entire worldview. It’s giving us an algorithm that is shaping our view of the world that is not in touch with reality,” she goes on to say. “When you’re offering sex as a supply… your idea of what you’re willing to supply online is not what is going to be in demand.”
Angelica also explains that OnlyFans money can sometimes lead women to “gaslight” themselves and push their boundaries in order to meet the “demands and desires of grown men who have perverted imaginations.”
“Don’t get me wrong, when I was on OnlyFans, I literally just did what I wanted to do, and then I left…the money is never going to be worth me having to do something that I don’t want to do,” Angelica says of her own experience.
Many internet users praised Angelica’s analysis of OnlyFans, appreciative that she pointed out some nuances that are often overlooked in discussions about sex work. These viewers noted that while OnlyFans creators may initially start making such content to reclaim their sexuality, they still operate within patriarchal and capitalist power structures that remain exploitative and alienating.
However, viewers grew concerned when Angelica began sharing some of her other beliefs, particularly after she detailed her transition from “Anarcho-Communist to Catholic.”
In the video, Angelica criticises the US government and American political culture for several reasons. She first finds fault with liberalism, claiming people who subscribe to this philosophy have inappropriately co-opted Marxist ideals for power and money. Later, Angelica notes how the United States has plunged further into a “police state” since 9/11— a belief common within many right-wing circles.
Feeling disillusioned with the left and the “outside world,” Angelica admits she found comfort in Christian teachings.
“Because of the hypocrisy and because of the lack of forgiveness, Christian teachings started to appeal to me. Ironically, because typically, churches are the ones associated with hypocrisy and lack of forgiveness,” she begins. “But having come from a Church, I was like, bro, that Church was much chiller than what I’m seeing out here in the outside world.”
Angelica goes on to explain that many communist values she hoped would eventuate in the real world were present in the Bible and Christian communities. However, she also acknowledges that her upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness initially posed challenges in embracing this perspective due to the religious trauma she endured.
“I started to notice that all of the fruits that I wanted to see under Communism… the poor being liberated, no more war, people working together in collectives… that all of those elements were found in Christianity,” Angelica reflects. “[But] for all the sins and flaws that the Catholic Church definitely has… it’s minimal compared to secular institutions and secular ideologies, especially the atheist nihilistic ones.”
After exploring her new-found commitment to Christianity with her audience, Angelica continued to detail her problems with radical feminism and leftist ideology on her YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Many internet users, like @habavamo, have criticised Angelica for much of this content being riddled with homophobia.
“Lately, there has been a turn in [Angelica’s] videos related to Christian dogma and Christian beliefs being the right way,” @habavamo reflects. “She [has] discussed how she was one of the only people to sleep on the steps of the Supreme Court after the overturning of Roe v Wade, and I just find it hard to believe that the same person who did that is also rallying with a religion that has been used and weaponised against a group of people.”
In her videos, @habavamo includes screenshots of Angelica’s now-deleted Instagram stories. The first set of posts shows Angelica explaining why she hates “queer ideology,” insinuating that these theorists normalise sexual deviance and pedophilia.
@habavamo #greenscreen my friends, and I actually had a wonderful conversation about religion because of this whole Angelica situation. It was really nice to hear differing views intersecting with each person’s place in the world. We should be allowed to have conversations like that without using them as ammunition to take away the rights of people. #fyp #foryou #angelicaasmr #angelicaasmrcontroversy #foryoupage #foryourpage #xyzbca #xyzbcaaa #tiktok #queer #queertheory #bisexual #gay #lesbian #asexual #lgbt #lgbtq
♬ original sound – Habavamo
While Angelica does attempt to distinguish between members of the LGBTQIA+ community and queer theory, she has continued to make a number of transphobic and homophobic comments in her YouTube videos.
Soon after receiving backlash for her discriminatory comments, Angelica posted an “apology” to her YouTube channel.
She started by including the now-deleted TikTok videos that led to her ‘cancellation,’ most of which revolved around gender roles, child trafficking and the LGBTQIA+ community, and the role of Christianity as a guiding force.
The video then cuts to Angelica in real-time. She pretends to read from a script where she “apologises” to the people she has offended while poking fun at many of their criticisms of her.
The video has since been deleted.
Long-time fans have voiced their concerns in the comment section of Angelica’s apology video. Many are happy that Angelica has found some comfort in Christianity; however, they remain worried by the sudden and drastic nature of this change.
“I’ve followed Angelica and her chaotic but down to Earth videos since 2017…She always was accepting and supportive of queer people, such as myself, so when I found out about her spiral into bigotry, I honestly didn’t know how to feel…” one viewer writes. “The use of queer pedophiles to antagonise the entire community is one of the most shallow things you could do…Judging by this sudden flip, I feel as if she isn’t in the right headspace and needs time to figure out her own personal affairs. Psychiatry, therapy, a break from the internet. Anything that will help her mental health.”
Though the exact trigger behind Angelica’s transformation remains unclear, there is one similarity between her and Gwen’s trajectory that we cannot ignore. Both women started heading down this right-wing pipeline after they created an OnlyFans account.
While sex work can be a source of empowerment for some women, it can also be dangerous and degrading. This is not to say that sex work isn’t a legitimate career choice, but rather that all forms of sexual commerce under a patriarchal society can be seen as a form of violence against women. With this in mind, some internet users have speculated that Angelica’s reaction may be some sort of traumatic response to her sex work.
“I think she went through some serious bad shit related to her OnlyFans (which is why she came out with 2 different videos about how bad it is) and has been on some kind of spiral, and as a result, is leaning HARD in the other direction to attempt to “offset” the OF trauma,” one Reddit user writes.
At the time of publication, Angelica continues to post anti-leftist content and remains committed to her Christian faith.