Chelsea Handler leaves Instagram after it nixes her topless pic
The sharp-tongued late-night host says ‘bye bye’ to Instagram -- or what she affectionately calls ‘Instablock’ -- in the wake of the photo-sharing app’s removal of a topless photo she attempted to post several times.
Chelsea Handler has said "bye bye" to Instagram -- or what she affectionately calls "Instablock" — in the wake of the photo-sharing app's removal of a topless photo she attempted to post several times.
The sharp-tongued "Chelsea Lately" host, who is wont to show off her bare breasts, posted the nude pic of herself on a horse that parodies a similar picture taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Anything a man can do, a woman has the right to do better. #kremlin," she first wrote on Thursday. The caption was preserved on Twitter, but the link provided to the original post led to a "Page Not Found" error on Instagram.
The 39-year-old comedian's efforts didn't stop there, however. When the photo was deleted, she went ahead and posted it on Twitter instead.
"Taking this down is sexist. I have every right to show I have a better body than Putin," she wrote, reposting the collage on the micro-blogging site. (Warning: Link contains nudity).
Twitter has controls to allow users to opt out of seeing graphic media rather than outright placing it on their feeds.
The vexed funnywoman then shared a screengrab of Instagram's explanation for removing the photo because it violated the community guidelines. Instagram's basic terms of service indicate that users "may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content."
The Facebook-owned site has drawn criticism for deleting images of breast cancer survivors and women breastfeeding, as well as the ire of Scout Willis, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Cara DeLevingne, who supported the "Free the Nipple" campaign before Handler's kerfuffle.
"If a man posts a photo of his nipples, it's ok, but not a woman? Are we in 1825?" Handler wrote, posting the app's warning.
"If instagram takes this down again, you're saying Vladimir Putin Has more 1st amendment rights than me. Talk to your bosses," she quipped, attempting to share the topless pic again.
No such luck. The photo was still removed from her feed.
By Friday, the "Uganda Be Kidding Me" star gave up on Instagram.
"You can now find my dogs and my breasts on Twitter only where my followers have the right to choose what they say. Bye bye instablock," read her final post on Instagram, which featured a picture of her two dogs dressed up in costumes.
Earlier this month, Handler appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and talked about the nude shower scene she taped for her final episode of "Chelsea Lately." The comic said she doesn't take her body seriously and is often using her bare breasts to photobomb friends' scenic photos.
"I think it's very empowering for me," Handler said of being nude. "I like to be naked because I don't take my body seriously. I know people do and that's nice for them. But I think bodies are so silly — you're so vain in this business — myself included. First of all, these [my breasts] are the best thing I have going on on my body so I like to take them out whenever I can and say, 'Hey, look, pretend this is my whole face.'"
Uganda be Chelsea. Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.
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