Tommy Lee Turns Nude Picture Into Artwork In Instagram Rules Loophole

Tommy Lee has found a loophole in Instagram’s rules and managed to repost a naked picture of himself that went viral online.

On Thursday, Mötley Crüe member Lee posted a full frontal naked picture of himself. Despite seemingly breaking Instagram’s community guidelines, the image stayed up on his account for more than four hours before being removed. The same image has now been reposted on his account, this time in the form of a painting, which according to Instagram, means it’s not breaking any rules.

Lee’s original picture raised a lot of questions online, as people suggested that it was sexist for Lee’s picture of his penis to remain on the site for so long, when images of the female body are removed almost immediately.

Lee posted his new image late on Thursday night, and it went on to receive more likes than his original picture. While the rock star captioned the original as “Ooooopppsss” he didn’t attach a caption to the new multicolored painting. There is no artist credit attached either.

Tommy Lee, inset, reposted a naked picture of himself in painted form, left, after the original, right, was removed from Instagram. Emma McIntyre/Instagram @tommylee / Getty Images

Instagram’s community guidelines state that “nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK” and can stay on the site. That means the same graphic imagery, namely Lee’s penis, that was seen in the original photograph could be reposted as it is in painted form.

“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 guidelines state.

Unless Lee had the painting created in the space of 24 hours, it seems like he planned to post the original picture in the expectation it would be removed, then repost the painted version later.

While the picture was taken down on Instagram, the same image is still live on Twitter at the time of writing. Lee posted the picture which was too hot for Instagram at 3:52 a.m. ET from Pittsburgh, PA and 24 hours later it was still up.

Twitter’s “sensitive media policy” seems more lenient than Instagram’s community guidelines and it’s likely that Lee isn’t breaking any rules on the former platform.

“We recognize that some people may not want to be exposed to sensitive content, which is why we balance allowing people to share this type of media with helping people who want to avoid it to do so,” Twitter states.

They list adult content as full or partial nudity, including close-ups of genitals, buttocks, or breasts but acknowledge “exceptions may be made for artistic, medical, health, or educational content.”

“Tommy Lee putting a painting of his nude on Instagram is bloody iconic,” @Lowry_16 wrote on Twitter in response to the reposted picture.

The comment section for Lee’s painting on Instagram was also full of praise for the musician.

“The return of the king,” stated influencer Daniel Mac, while his wife Brittany Furlan simply wrote “HELP.”

Lee, 59, and his ex-wife Pamela Anderson were the subjects of the recent Hulu TV show Pam and Tommy. The Emmy-nominated series featured nudity from both leads, Lily James and Sebastian Stan, as well as an infamous scene where Lee had a conversation with his own anatomy.

Newsweek has reached out to Lee for further comment.