When it comes to Facebook, half-naked teens are fine, but artful photography is forbidden - at least according to Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx.
The rocker is accusing the social network site of censorship after they banned him from posting excerpts from his upcoming memoir/photography book "This is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx."
The images included nude photos of overweight women and transgender men.
"So I posted this nude picture and it was deleted by Facebook." Sixx tells Spinner.com. "And I went, 'Oh, you can't put art on Facebook?'"
Sixx also blasts Facebook for banning the photos and punishing fans for choosing to promote the album cover of his newest project - SixxA.M. - because it features a photograph of a badly-burned woman also shot by Sixx. The image, which accompanied a single called "Rules and Regulations," prompted Facebook to send Sixx another "cease and desist"-type message.
"I looked around Facebook and I see half-naked teenagers, and stuff way worse than my stuff, so I posted what they said to me about the 'Rules and Regulations' [image] and immediately 250,000 people changed their profile picture to that photo. So everyone's going, 'Why don't you change yours?' and I was worried they were going to delete my account, but finally I just posted it."
According to Sixx, Facebook did not remove his profile, but did shut down many of his fans'.
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"They didn't delete my account but they deleted James Michael and a number of fans," says Sixx. "And they weren't doing anything to me. So, eventually, I just thought this was so ridiculous and I posted half-naked pictures of myself and nobody's complained."
"So I'm asking where is this at? Is this censorship? Is this a double standard? What's happening? I think [the point] is seeing where we're at socially."
Selected Reading: PopEater, Spinner, Toronto Sun