Chelsea Handler quits Instagram after her topless Putin spoof pic is pulled

Chelsea Handler says she is quitting Instagram after the photo sharing service deleted a topless photo the comedian posted mocking an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin on horseback.

Handler posted the photo on her Instagram account on Thursday.

"Anything a man can do, a woman has the right to do better," she wrote.

The photo was quickly removed. Instagram informed Handler the post didn't follow its community guidelines.

"Remember that our community is a diverse one, and that your posts are visible to people as young as 13 years old," the guidelines read. "While we respect the artistic integrity of photos and videos, we have to keep our product and the content within it in line with our App Store’s rating for nudity and mature content. In other words, please do not post nudity or mature content of any kind."

Handler protested the policy.

"Taking this down is sexist," Handler wrote. "I have every right to show I have a better body than Putin."

"If a man posts a photo of his nipples, it's ok, but not a woman? Are we in 1825?" she continued.

The former "Chelsea Lately" host then reposted the image: "If Instagram takes this down again, you're saying Vladimir Putin Has more 1st amendment rights than [me]."

The photo was taken down again.

On Friday, Handler posted a photo on Instagram of her dogs dressed in Halloween outfits.

"You can now find my dogs and my breasts on Twitter only," she wrote, "where my followers have the right to choose what they say. Bye bye."

A screengrab of the topless photo appears on Handler's Twitter feed.

Twitter does not explicitly ban nudity, but asks those uploading photos of "nudity, violence, or medical procedures" to consider marking such content as sensitive.

It's not the first time Instagram's ban on nudity has been challenged by a celebrity. Earlier this year, Scout Willis, the 23-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, posted a series of topless photos on Twitter in protest after Instagram deleted her account.

"What Instagram won't let you see," she tweeted, adding the helpful hashtag, "#FreeTheNipple."

"I am not trying to argue for mandatory toplessness, or even bralessness," Willis later explained. "What I am arguing for is a woman’s right to choose how she represents her body — and to make that choice based on personal desire and not a fear of how people will react to her or how society will judge her. No woman should be made to feel ashamed of her body."

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