Strip club dancers and promoters are hosting virtual pop-up strip clubs on Instagram Live, accepting tips via Cash app and promoting the events on Twitter
Going digital may be better for dancers. — For the past three weeks, Justin LaBoy, 28, a former professional basketball player … Tweets: @modestproposal1 , @katierogers , @candicepool , @spencerpratt , @thelextimes , @bigracks , and @taylorlorenz Tweets: Modest Proposal / @modestproposal1 : This is why capitalism wins https://twitter.com/... Katie Rogers / @katierogers : Hustlers: Pandemic doesn't have the same ring to it https://twitter.com/... Candice Pool / @candicepool : Awesome! No excuses! Join me live at midnight on my IG live-all proceeds go to no kid goes hungry. https://twitter.com/... @spencerpratt : American dream still alive https://twitter.com/... Lex / @thelextimes : Damn the @nytimes wrote about @JustinLaboy. Honestly, this could be an entire business. A twitch for virtual strip clubs. https://twitter.com/... @bigracks : NYT article about demon time and quarantine radio... we are truly living in the last days https://twitter.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : I wrote about @JustinLaboy's IG Live show, which has become an overnight phenomenon https://www.nytimes.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Strip club workers are the latest group to move their livelihood onto Instagram Live during lockdowns, with Justin LaBoy's virtual pop-up shows letting dancers perform remotely while fans tip through Cash App. The mechanics aren't new — performers were already pulling five-figure monthly tip income from live-stream tip jars on YouNow and live.ly back in 2017 — but the pandemic gave the format an urgent new customer base.
The move rides a wave already documented across nightlife: Instagram Live became the definitive quarantine medium for rappers, DJs, and producers, and live streaming emerged as an ad hoc support system for music and nightlife workers facing shuttered venues. Adult performers specifically have been migrating to direct-monetization tools like OnlyFans, which saw signups surge in April.
First-order effects
- Dancers keep tips sent directly via Cash App instead of splitting revenue with a club, shifting income from venue-dependent wages to per-show digital tips.
- Promoters like LaBoy convert club-night promotion skills into hosting virtual pop-ups, with Twitter as the marketing channel driving viewers to each Instagram Live event.
Second-order effects
- Dancers who find steady audiences face a choice between ad hoc Cash App tips and dedicated creator platforms — feeding the hustle economy of Patreon, Twitch, and OnlyFans monetization that unemployed service workers broadly are joining.
- Physical strip clubs lose both talent and customers to a format with no venue overhead, pressuring clubs to add their own digital offerings or cede the audience entirely.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, adult entertainment structurally decouples from licensed venues, leaving platform content policies — not zoning boards or club owners — as the main gatekeepers over where and how this work happens.
- Payment rails like Cash App and subscription platforms become the financial infrastructure of sex work, raising the stakes on how those companies handle account bans and payout rules for adult creators.
The trend: The pandemic is accelerating adult entertainment's migration from physical venues to social platforms and direct-to-fan payments, making platform policy the industry's new regulatory layer.