The heavily tattooed Mötley Crüe drummer shared a frontal selfie on Instagram and Facebook on Thursday, with the caption “Ooooopppsss”.
Instagram and Facebook took it down within hours for violating nudity rules, a Meta spokesperson told CNN. It sparked a debate on social media – with critics accusing the platform of delaying its removal and pulling double standards.
“So that Tommy Lee could post a picture of his penis on @instagram which is still online three hours later but a picture of my curvaceous bottom in a string bikini is taken down? Cool, cool,” the reporter said. Lola Mendez.
tweeted. She
compared seeing Lee’s nude photo on social media to get an unsolicited photo of a penis.
Others have cited the photo as an example of the misogyny women face, saying some of Britney Spears’ tell-all posts have been widely criticized while Lee’s image has mostly received praise.
“Make sense. The double standard is so obvious,”
a posted user. “2022 and we have to see Tommy Lee being praised for posting a frontal nude while Britney Spears is constantly humiliated for posting sexy photos”,
another added.Lee is the latest in a string of celebrities whose photos have been deleted from the platform. Instagram suspended Rihanna’s account after the singer posted a topless photo of herself on the cover of Lui magazine. Photos posted by Chelsea Handler, Scout Willis, Miley Cyrus and non-binary model Rain Dove have also been removed from the platform.
Instagram explicitly states that it does not allow nude photos.
“This includes photos, videos, and some digitally created content that shows sex, genitalia, and close-ups of fully nude buttocks,” it says on its website. “It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos in the context of breastfeeding, childbirth and postpartum moments, health-related situations or an act of protest are permitted.”
In recent years, artists and activists have launched the “Free the Nipple” campaign to demand that Instagram stop censoring photos.
This isn’t the first time Lee has made headlines for something other than his music. In the 1990s, the rocker’s stolen sex tape with then-wife Pamela Anderson became such a defining moment in pop culture that Hulu released a series about the viral sex tape this year.
Lee did not respond to the controversy on Instagram but posted an additional photo with a sexual theme after his nudity. Some commenters asked why he posted a new image while others told him to go to sleep.
