‘A dream come true’: Playboy names Cardi B as its first-ever creative director in residence
In a statement published on Thursday 2 December, the multi-platinum artist Cardi B announced that she has been appointed Playboy magazine’s first-ever creative director in residence. The ‘WAP’ singer said the opportunity was a “dream come true,” adding “I can’t believe this is real.”
The statement further read, “For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt connected to Playboy. It’s truly the original platform for uncensored creativity and I’m inspired by its incredible legacy of fighting for personal freedoms. I have so many ideas already—I can’t wait!”
She continued, “I’m also excited to launch our creator-led platform, Centerfold. Creators today deserve to express themselves freely and unfiltered. They deserve to feel safe in their creativity and sexuality. And they deserve to own their future. This is what Centerfold is all about. For all those creators out there doing bold, revolutionary, truly culture-shifting things, come join me.”
Owned by PLBY Group Inc (which in turn owns Playboy), Centerfold had previously been introduced to the public as a potential OnlyFans rival. In October 2021, Forbes wrote, “The new platform, similar to that of OnlyFans, will allow content creators to interact directly with fans—and presumably paid subscribers—of their page. The Dream [which PLBY Group Inc bought for $30 million at the time] infrastructure will effectively serve as the technological backbone of Centerfold.”
Centerfold will also have an e-commerce connection with the Playboy brand attached to its platform so that users can purchase products and merchandise associated with the historic brand. Cryptocurrency usage and NFT applications were also reported to be featured on the site.
When talking to Bloomberg back in October, PLBY CEO Ben Kohn said, “Centerfold will serve as the home for the world’s top creators to interact directly with their fans and to expand their communities and commerce businesses.”
Now that the news of Cardi B being involved in the company has just come out, Kohn released a new statement where he talked about the singer, “Cardi B is a creative genius and we are absolutely thrilled and honored to bring her immense talent and creative vision to Playboy. Through her unapologetic commitment to free expression, her dedication to lifting up artistic voices and her celebration of sex and body positivity, Cardi is the embodiment of the Playboy brand. I can’t wait to see what Cardi and our team develop together with our merchandise design, development and distribution capabilities and our best-in-class content production. I also can’t think of a better creative visionary to partner with us on the launch of Centerfold. Centerfold will revolutionize the creator economy just as Playboy magazine shook up the publishing industry nearly 70 years ago—and Cardi is the perfect shepherd into this new era.”
According to WWD, Centerfold is expected to launch this month, December 2021. And I don’t know about you, but an improved version of OnlyFans spearheaded by the iconic Cardi B sounds pretty promising.
