Years & Years’ Olly Alexander criticized Instagram in his Instastory (Photo: Polydor)
Instagram apologized for removing a photo of two men kissing from the site following outcry from users.
Photographer Stella Asia Consonni uploaded the picture on Saturday. She later found it had been deleted for apparently ‘violating community standards’.
I-D Magazine previously published the picture in an article examining London-based Consonni’s work documenting relationships.
Celebrities including Years & Years’ frontman Olly Alexander, and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall were among those to protest the removal.
Olly Alexander reposted the photo to his Intastory. The out gay singer wrote: ‘just been informed @instagram removed the following image for being “offensive and against guidelines”. Let’s take a look!’
He then requested a response from Instagram, before concluding ‘Not offensive’.
Olly Alexander’s Instagram response (Photo: Instagram)
Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall joined the chorus of disapproval, as she uploaded the photo to her own Instastory. The singer wrote: ‘How is this image “offensive and against guidelines”. Would this be the same for a heterosexual couple kissing?’
Instagram responded to the outcry with the following statement: ‘This post was removed in error and we are sorry. It has since been reinstated.’
Photographer received abuse on Instagram
Consonni said that she received abusive messages in response to the picture.
‘I am receiving many hate messages, saying that it’s disgusting and that I should kill myself for posting that,’ she said.
Consonni intended the photo to be included in an exhibition that she is planning for later this year.
The men depicted in the photo, Jordan Bowen and Luca Lucifer, have been in a relationship for seven years. Commenting on the photo’s removal, Bowen lamented that Instagram reduced his relationship to a ‘community guideline’.
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