A gay theater actor claims he was fired from Fayetteville's Cape Fear Regional Theatre after his history as an adult film star and OnlyFans model was discovered.
This summer, Andrew Bonomolo alleges he relocated back to North Carolina when he was cast in the theater’s production of Bright Star, but he was let go the day before rehearsals started in a meeting an hour before his first call time.
The theater didn’t give him an official reason for his firing, but Bonomolo alleges he was informally told it was because the theater had become aware of his work in the adult film industry.
"There's an irony here I can't ignore. Bright Star is about someone who is shunned and punished for being sexually active and making their own choices,” Bonomolo said in a statement sent to Out. “And the villain in the story shames them because he's afraid someone else's truth will ruin his own reputation. And here I am, let go from that very production because of my own past. I'm not trying to place blame, but you can't help but notice the show they're producing is telling the exact story that just happened to me.”
Instead of staying quiet about what happened, Bonomolo has taken to social media to speak out against the theater and what he considers to be an unfair firing.
Who is Andrew Bonomolo?
Andrew Bonomolo
Courtesy of Travis Chantar
Bonomolo is an openly gay actor who grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He trained in musical theater before moving to New York to pursue performance work.
Bonomolo became an OnlyFans star who posted explicit videos on his account and starred in several adult films under the stage name Troye Jacobs, but he had recently shifted his focus back to theater acting and hasn’t filmed adult content in over a year. More than a year ago, Bonomolo also stopped posting on his popular X account, which he used to promote his adult content to his over 660,000 followers.
What does Andrew Bonomolo say happened?
Bonomolo has posted two Instagram videos speaking out about what happened to him and asking the community to rally around him and other sex workers.
On Aug. 18, Bonomolo posted a video claiming he was “terminated from a theater contract” because of his past “involvement in sex work, OnlyFans, and studio porn.”
Bonomolo used his platform and his alleged experience being fired for his work in the adult film industry to call for people in the theater community to stand up for sex workers.
“It is my firm belief that sex work is work and there should be no world in which that allows jobs to terminate you based on their prejudice,” Bonomolo said in the video.
The actor said that while he’s disappointed he won’t be on stage in this production of Bright Star, he feels frustrated by the alleged reasoning behind his termination.
“I’m more disappointed that it’s 2026 and we’re still firing people based on whether or not they’ve done porn,” he said. “If the theater community is truly as accepting as it claims to be, I ask those in it to step forward, lift up sex workers, and stop this unjust behavior."
Why does he call the firing ‘hypocritical’?
In a second video on Aug. 22, Bonomolo said his alleged firing is especially hypocritical considering the theater holds itself up as an inclusive space and bastion of liberal values that celebrates actors who play characters involved in sex work.
“Think about it, in the theater we award people who play strippers, sex workers, and hyper-sexualized icons,” he said. “We applaud them and award them for the bravery it takes to bring these characters to the stage. But the second they find out that actors actually have a history in adult entertainment or sex work, suddenly you’re a liability. Suddenly you’re unprofessional.”
Bonomolo said that if people in the theater can participate in Broadway Bares — an annual burlesque performance that raises money for HIV/AIDS — then it shouldn’t be a stretch to support people who have worked in the adult entertainment industry.
“Every year, literally hundreds of actors strip down to their G-strings for charity, and it’s hailed as artistic and liberating,” he said. “So let me get this straight. Turning your body into art for a fundraiser makes you a hero, but doing it to pay your rent and make a living makes you unemployable?”
According to Bonomolo, people in the industry with this mindset “should be ashamed of he double standard they’re hiding behind.”
Bonomolo also claims in the video that the Cape Fear Regional Theater has tried to “silence” him. “I can tell you right now, that is not going to happen,” he said at the end of his video. “I will say it a million times, sex work is work.”
Fayetteville's Cape Fear Regional Theatre could not be immediately reached for comment.
