Cherie DeVille has been working as an adult performer for over a decade, and over that time has grown a full-fledged company, complete with employees. Despite an impeccable business record, Bank of America fired her as a customer because of how her company makes money.
DeVille shared her story in a recent Instagram video that went viral. “Bank of America has just fired me as a customer,” she said. “Not because I committed fraud or did something illegal, not because I owe them money, but because I’m an adult content creator. That’s it. That’s the entire reason.”
Bank of America’s response was the corporate equivalent of a shrug. A spokesperson told media outlets that DeVille’s profession had nothing to do with the closure and that the accounts were closed “based on recent transactional activity” under federal regulations that require banks to monitor account activity. The bank sent her a letter saying the same, and DeVille shared the actual letter on X, calling it a lie.
“I have never done anything illegal. I have never done a single illegal transaction,” she wrote. Then she escalated. “The idiots at Bank of America think I’m a dumb hoe. Unfortunately, I’m an articulate, wealthy p*rn star who chooses to hire multiple mainstream PR consultants.”
This isn’t just a dispute between a customer and a bank. It’s the loudest and latest version of a pattern that has been running through the adult content industry for years. Debanking or the practice of financial institutions closing accounts or refusing service to individuals and businesses based on the nature of their work rather than any real legal violation.
DeVille pointed specifically to an executive order signed by President Trump directing that legal businesses should not lose access to banking simply because somebody disagrees with their line of work. While the order doesn’t mention adult content specifically, a bank’s personal distaste for your industry shouldn’t be grounds for closing your accounts. DeVille argues that Bank of America violated that principle directly.
The she-said/corporation-said dynamic here is familiar to anyone who has followed the debanking issue. Financial institutions rarely say explicitly that they’re closing accounts because of what someone does for a living. They cite compliance requirements, transactional concerns, or internal policies. But the creator knows the real reason: the bank finally noticed what industry they’re in. But proving discriminatory intent in that environment is difficult, which is why the executive order framing is strategic. It shifts the burden from proving intent to proving compliance with stated policy.
DeVille has already found another bank, which she knows is a privilege not all debanked creators have. She’s built pu a large enough business, complete with mainstream PR consultants, a massive platform, and enough resources to absorb the disruption of having her accounts closed and rebuilding banking relationships elsewhere. Most adult creators don’t, and a sudden account closure can interrupt their business operations and create cascading financial problems that take months to resolve. All because their bank didn’t like what they do for work.
DeVille said Bank of America has debanked hundreds of legal adult content creators she knows personally. That number, if accurate, represents a systematic pattern of behavior against an industry rather than isolated compliance decisions based on individual account activity. It’s the difference between flagging unusual transactions and a bank conducting what amounts to an industry purge under the cover of compliance language.
DeVille’s PR team called and asked her to tone it down after she posted multiple times on social media about her experience, but she refused. “BOA debanked hundreds of legal adult content creators I know,” she wrote. “I won’t back down till BOA follows Trump’s executive order. THIS IS WAR.”
It’s likely that DeVille is positioning this as a test case for whether the executive order has any real teeth, and her refusal to quiet down may become a reputational problem for the bank. She’s promised more surprises for them soon, which suggests these posts are just an opening move.
The debanking issue has been building in the adult industry for years, and now it’s found a loud spokesperson. Whether that changes anything for the hundreds of creators who don’t have her resources is the question that really matters.