Gay Aussie Politician Heston Russell’s ‘Explicit’ OnlyFans Account Stokes Controversy
Image: Heston Russell. Images: Instagram
You know it’s the holiday season, when news filters in of some celebrity with a recently discovered OnlyFans account!
One of Australia’s newest wannabe politicians, retired Special Forces Officer and former November Platoon Commander Heston Russell, has been in the news a bit of late for varying reasons.
Russell launched his fledgling political party, the Australian Values Party last week. “Freedom of religion, speech and association” is listed second on AVP’s Values Statement on its website, yet that topic and further information appears to be missing on the “Policies Serving Australians” page. At the time of writing, AVP was unregistered whilst the Australian Electoral Commission worked through the party’s application to tick the boxes required to launch a political party.
Russell has been blessed with hard-working guns and he isn’t afraid to show them off, as his fans on the aforementioned subscription-based social media platform discovered.
Explicit Images Sold For $94
— JJ (@jimmy3182) December 4, 2021
Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Hornery started talking about possible naughty pics on OnlyFans after an interview with Russell. Soon, national broadcaster ABC got in on the news as well. ABC’s story alleged that Russell had sold explicit photos while fundraising for a veteran’s charity and had lied about it.
According to the ABC report, Russell had told Swiss 8, a health promotion charity founded by combat veterans, and his ex-employer, that he would sell “risqué” content on his OnlyFans to raise money for the organisation. He had reportedly assured the charity that the images would be “PG-rated” and that there would not be “nudity of any kind”.
However, it didn’t take long for the internet, specifically an online gay chat forum, to start chattering about Russell selling his nude images via OnlyFans. The charity was eventually sent screen shots, which made it clear that there was a bit more than PG behaviour going on.
The soldier-turned-politician’s “fans” apparently upset about his conservative stances, forwarded to the ABC explicit images that Russell had allegedly sold on OnlyFans. This included “a picture of himself holding his erect penis” that was sold for $94.
Swiss 8’s chief executive Adrian Sutter told the ABC that less than a third of the apparent funds raised had been passed on, when it had been advertised on the OnlyFans profile that “all proceeds would be donated to the charity”.
“Obviously, we’re a veteran-led mental health charity,” Sutter, who served in Afghanistan with the First Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, told the ABC.
“We’re not in the business of selling pornography. Heston Russell, in my mind, does not hold or does not understand the values that are unique and positive to Australians,” he said. “I personally don’t think Heston Russell should be allowed to be a leader in this country, no,” added Sutter.
Russell Addresses Allegations
Russell addressed the rush of less than flattering press that has occured over the past few months on his YouTube channel. He said he was owning his actions.
“Last year was a very interesting year for me. I broke up with my partner of four years, right at the start of Covid, where we spent lockdown together and my mental health proceeded to decline throughout that year. I became heavily involved with a veterans charity and my position became defunded due to the organisation that was providing that funding suffering the impacts of Covid,” said Rusell.
“So I took to some very unconventional means in order to raise funds for that charity. I opened an OnlyFans account with the intent for it to be risqué as opposed to risky. However there were definitely photos that were shared on there that I wish that I hadn’t at the time but they are out there and they’re photos of me.”
“And they are not that photo that Andrew put out there, they’re much better than that,” he said. The video did little to quell the controversy.
https://youtu.be/v1EJ885b9tk
Soldier-Turned-Aspiring Politician
After his service, Heston Russell seems to be out to to prove that he is is not just a sexy pretty boy.
Russell, a fifth-generation veteran, is an entrepreneur who launched Barry’s Bootcamp in Australia with a previous partner. He is also a sausage dog enthusiast, sharing his OnlyFans fame with his little Dachshund mate, Copper The Sausage Dog, who of course, also has his own Insta account with 509 followers.
Thinking of Copper the Sausage dog this morning following revelations he makes a cameo on Australian Values Party founder Heston Russell’s Only Fans account. Mad respect to a dog that has, clearly, seen too much. pic.twitter.com/1PQHwHKE8Y
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) December 4, 2021
He is also a gay man, previously closeted, who came out after leaving the armed forces in 2017. Russell told the Daily Mail in November last year, “I was actually a closeted gay man during my entire service, for no other reason than I didn’t want to bring it as a factor”.
Sky News Favourite
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Russell has made made news in the past for his connections with Sky News – regularly appearing in guest spots on shows hosted by Paul Murray and Alan Jones.
If you’re thinking he looks familiar, that would be because Russell has also been in the news quite a bit of late, mainly because of reporting by the ABC that might give the impression of a less than stellar past.
This includes reporting from the ABC last month that he may have been involved with misdeeds while on tour in Afghanistan in 2012. In September this year, there were reports that he is being sued over unpaid charity merchandise, which he spruiked on Murray and Jones’ shows in April this year – he later claimed the pins were faulty.
He was also named as a former soldier in October this year who had followed a private Instagram account that regularly posted fat-shaming pictures and videos of military personnel with the hashtag “Fat F..k Friday”, with the page encouraging similar damaging commentary.
From ABC’s reporting: “The videos and photos appear to have been taken on military bases during training exercises without the knowledge of the subjects and in breach of Defence policies” and “Mr Russell said he did not condone body-shaming or bullying and had never liked or supported any such posts on the @Speargrasscollector account.”
The Authentic Heston Russell
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On his YouTube video, Russell reminisced about being bullied himself for being overweight, saying “I was bullied as a fat kid at school and this is exactly what it feels like, only what’s worse is you feel even more small and insignificant when you know how big and well funded and how much media access the organisation and the individuals who have a set agenda against you have.”
“The Heston Russell here and now is the authentic Heston Russell that got lost along the way between my separation from the military and where I arrived at at the end of last year. Since then I’ve reconnected with myself, with my community and are now living and espousing those values that I stand proud to. And those values include taking up the fight against bullies.”
And, as for his fledgling political career, we might just have to wait and watch!
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Really? Racism is any kind should be banned from this website…
I agree with Parker 100percent
The headline says he is an ‘Aussie Politician’….sounds like he is just a potential candidate. There is a huge difference – a politician is someone elected, someone with a public vote and mandate.
You dont become a politician by running for office.
somehow I dont think you can claim to be ‘leaning in’ to your actions only once your actions have been exposed/and or called out. I don’t think ‘lean in’ or integrity for that matter Heston mean what you think they mean…
There’s nothing more unattractive than a right wing gay.