It has been a difficult year for adult industry dancers. In the face of club closures during the pandemic, many dancers have had to scramble to make ends meet, turning to platforms like OnlyFans or dancing for tips on IG Live. So when a dancer at Sapphire Las Vegas accused Usher of using counterfeit money with his face on it to tip, dancers across the country rallied behind her.
On her Instagram story, a dancer passing by @ beel0ve posted a photo of the Usher brand bills. “Ladies what would you do if you danced for Usher all night and he threw this?” she captioned the photo and explained in a follow-up post that the money had no ‘trade-in value’ at all. The post was initially picked up by accounts of other dancers and advocacy organizations before making its way to Instagram accounts such as The Shade Room, with many online sleuths pointing out that Usher himself posted a photo of a see-through suitcase filled with the fake money on his Instagram. April 3, to promote his upcoming residency in Las Vegas.
A Usher representative was not available for comment when contacted about the alleged incident. In an email to Rolling stone, George M. Wilson IV, Sapphire Las Vegas’ marketing director, denied the story, saying, “Apparently someone on his team left some Usher dollars on the floor to promote his Vegas residency. That’s where it seems like the confusion has arisen. But real money was used for tips. Wilson added that the musician was “a real gentleman and a great guy at the club.”
But many dancers who saw the poles were outraged. “Dancers face stigmas and are already dealing with disrespect,” said Chrissa Parker, founder of the Dancers’ Resource, an Instagram account and app that allows dancers to submit ratings and reviews about the clubs where they work. “This adds to that level of disrespect.” Gizelle Marie, a dancer who previously worked at Sapphire Las Vegas, says the situation is exacerbated by the fact that many clubs have increased their house money, or the fees that dancers have to pay to pay clubholders to perform, in light of the pandemic. “It’s just a waste of women’s time and money,” she says.
The story has also gained traction on social media, largely because Usher has built much of his public image as a supporter of exotic dancers, namely with the pro-stripping anthem ‘I Don’t Mind’ and his cameo appearance as himself in the 2019 Film HustlersThere is a well-established genre of dancers who use social media to summon public figures who patronize clubs to boost their image, but don’t tip or compensate the dancers accordingly. “I feel like a lot of celebrities get their aesthetics from sex work and that helps boost their music and things like that. They use it for their profit, ”says Gizelle Marie. “But many of them are not a tribute to the real sex workers themselves.”