Chelsea Handler, three times last night, posted to Instagram a topless photo of herself on a horse mimicking a similar post from a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Why three times? Well, because the first two were taken down by the Instagram police as she certainly expected. (Unlike Twitter, where Handler has posted topless pics before, Instagram has a policy against such things.)
Handler captioned the topless photo the first time with, “Anything a man can do, a woman has the right to do better #kremlin.” Then it was, of course, taken down and she responded with the same photo again captioning it, “Taking this down is sexist. I have every right to prove I have a better body than Putin.” And once again it was taken down.
Following those two efforts Handler then posted a copy of Instagram’s warning, saying, “If a man posts a photo of his nipples, it’s ok, but not a woman? Are we in 1825?”
Of course she then posted the topless photo one more time with the caption, “If instagram takes this down again, you’re saying Vladimir Putin Has more 1st amendment rights than me. Talk to your bosses.” And of course, they removed it again. As of this writing she hasn’t tried posting the photo for a fourth time nor has she gotten the Rihanna treatment from Instagram either.
Now while I appreciate Handler’s efforts to #FreeTheNipple, a large part of me has to wonder if this isn’t just the first in a long succession of publicity stunts we’ll be getting from Handler to keep her relevant throughout the months between now and when her Netflix show actually begins to air.
Chelsea Handler image by s_bukley/Shutterstock; H/T E!