Gina Carano is not happy with Instagram right now. On Tuesday, the former MMA star went to Twitter to announce a nude photo she posted on Instagram was deleted by the social network. The 38-year-old was trying to send a message of empowerment by using a Prince quote in her caption alongside the photo, which read: “I find freedom sexy. I find freedom so sexy I can’t even explain it to you. You wake up every day and feel like you can do anything.” However, Instagram didn’t feel the same way and deleted the photo for violation of its community guidelines.
“So that’s what it’s like to be censored for no reason,” she wrote on Twitter. “Pic was taken down by Instagram. There’s much more important news today but that was some classic bulls—t. The whole post was about freedom of expression. Violating zero rules. Ironic. Feels like I graduated. Thanks Karen.” According to Instagram’s community guidelines, nudity in a photo is prohibited.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram,” the community guidelines state. “This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed.” Carano did post an artistic photo of a similar pose, and Instagram has not deleted it.
Carano, who is now an actress and starring on Disney+’s The Mandalorian, got into MMA after achieving success in Muay Thai fighting. She made her MMA debut in 2006 and came away with a win. She went on to win her next six matches and took on Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Championship in 2009. Carano lost to Cyborg in one round. She was close to signing with UFC in 2014 and was planning to face Ronda Rousey.
However, that never happened, and Carano recently revealed why. She explained to ESPN in 2019 that she needed six months to get ready for a fight against Rousey, but UFC president Dana White said Carano was signing with the promotion despite not having a team yet. White verbally attacked Carano for not having a team again, which led to her cutting off all communication with him.
