Police Scotland drop domestic abuse advert after actor found to be Onlyfans creator

Police Scotland has dropped its latest domestic abuse advert after it was found it had cast an Onlyfans creator to star in it.

The video highlighting domestic abuse in the LGBTQI+ community features two men taking part in a trend in which couples answer a series of questions about their relationship.

Innocent initial questions, such as “Who has better taste?”, become more sinister – “Who demands to know where the other one is at all times?”

The couple becomes increasingly uncomfortable, and after being asked, “Who threatens to leave if they don’t get their way?”, one of the men looks unhappy and turns the video off.

One of the actors in the video is Ross Rankin, a Glasgow-based adult content creator known as Rossy.

Police Scotland faced criticism for the casting of the content creator with Tory MSP Pam Gosal describing it as “deeply inappropriate” for Mr Rankin to be the face of a domestic abuse campaign.

Alba MSP Ash Regan also criticised the casting, and questioned Police Scotland’s commitment to the abuse campaign.

She said: “How can the public trust Police Scotland’s commitment to tackling the escalating harm of abuse through non-fatal strangulation when they fail to vet out those who normalise such dangerous practices from their own domestic violence campaigns?

“If we are serious about protecting victims, there can be no mixed messages — safeguarding must be prioritised.”

Police Scotland said it removed the advert “immediately” after reviewing the concerns and that an “additional level of vetting” will be carried out for future campaigns.

A spokesperson said: “We were made aware of an issue with our most recent domestic abuse advert, which was removed immediately as these concerns were reviewed.

“Proportionate checks were carried out in advance of the advert’s launch, however following a review of this matter, an additional level of vetting has now been introduced for anyone taking part in future campaigns.

“Different levels of vetting are available to us and are always used proportionately for the role or service being provided.”

Speaking to STV News, Mr Rankin criticised Police Scotland’s vetting process and has said he has been left “concerned” with the reaction to his casting.

“Since the ‘news’ broke about this, the only people who seem to be bothered by this ‘mistake’ are Police Scotland,” he said.

“I’ve had floods of people contacting me showing their support for me and wondering why a ‘sex worker’ can’t advocate [against] domestic abuse?

“I’m wondering that myself, although I’m more concerned with Police Scotland’s reaction considering the fact that out of the majority of people out there, wouldn’t a sex worker be the best person to know the difference between consent and non-consent?

“I make my living entirely on that point after all.”

Reacting to the campaign being pulled, Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal said: “I’m glad Police Scotland have done the right thing, but many questions remain.

“People will find it very difficult to understand how on earth this collaboration could possibly meet any of the considerations set out in this statement.”

For Women Scotland said: “For some time now, we have been raising concerns about the dangers associated with consumption of extreme pornography and the normalisation of harmful practices like ‘breath play’ – a euphemism for choking. Horrifically, studies indicate that a third of women under 30 have experienced violence during sex and we also know this escalates.

“The individual employed by Police Scotland was very open about his porn content, it beggars belief that the police – who, after all, are supposed to be able to investigate complex crimes – managed to miss the overt, explicit acts across his social media.

“The only explanation is that those vetting the individual found it uncontroversial. If this is the case, how can women have confidence that concerns of intimate partner violence will be taken seriously?”