Tom Daley is one of the most famous gay athletes on the planet. He is a barrier breaking Olympic champion and a gay icon. Even gays who “don’t follow sportsball” know who he is. Thousands of them follow his social media feeds.
His current diving partner Noah Williams is straight and recently posted a tribute to his girlfriend on Instagram. They are celebrating five years together.
One of these two divers has an OnlyFans account. Based on what you know about both, you’ve probably guessed which one it is.
There’s a good chance you were wrong.
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It turns out that Williams is the one with an OnlyFans that currently features 107 photos, 116 videos, and the promise “I am just here to have some fun” with a smiley emoji.
To get a sense of how big an upset it is that the straight guy started an OnlyFans: Try reading that phrase without imagining the Grindr sound going off at the end.
It’s part of what makes Daley and Williams a fascinating partnership. Professionally, they work incredibly well together on the platform. This is evidenced by their Olympic-qualifying performance at the World Championships.
Away from the pool, they flip stereotypical assumptions about gay and straight people. It’s as effortless as they pull off a reverse three-and-a-half somersault.
Williams is comfortable enough with his sexuality and his body to post to his OnlyFans twice a week.
Daley, on the other hand, routinely uploads videos to his YouTube channel centering on family adventures with his husband and two sons. Or his latest knitting creation. Such content wouldn’t be out of place on such pillars of wholesomeness as “The Waltons” or “Full House.”
Granted, Daley also posts enough clips in his Speedo to suggest that a better comp might be “Make Room For Zaddy.”
It’s an image that he’s happy to own. In a recent interview with The Guardian’s Chris Godfrey, Daley’s husband Dustin Lance Black shared.
“We really love having kids and doing all the family things that, you know, Norman Rockwell would have approved of,” Black said.
Daley might be the first gay man in history to inspire the phrase “Rockwellian thirst trap.”
Daley and Williams are now diving partners
As world class Olympic athletes, Daley and Williams both have the privilege of living their lives with a lot of freedom. Both have used that freedom to ignore the pressure of catering to societal expectations of who gay and straight men should be and instead do what makes each of them happiest.
That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Any gay man who likes sports can empathize.
Plus with Daley and Williams each defying preconceptions for gay and straight men, it’s even more fun when they venture into each other’s turf.
During a recent YouTube Q&A, Daley remembered something on Williams’ 21st birthday.
“We were in the middle of Budapest, and I was like, ‘What am I going to get him for his birthday?’” He said. “So I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve got yarn, I’ve got a crochet hook…I’m gonna make a cock sock!’”
A few minutes later in the video, Daley admitted to Williams:
“I haven’t seen your OnlyFans page and the only picture I know that’s on there is the willy warmer one.”
That is the crossover between OnlyFans and JoAnn Fabrics that we’ve all been waiting for.
As LGBTQ people, we use the phrase “authentic self” a lot. By pursuing their own happiness and embracing genuine individuality in the face of social expectations for who gay and straight people should be, Daley and Williams demonstrate what “authentic self” really means.
