Actress and MMA icon Gina Carano has slammed the social media platform Instagram after it removed a photo of her topless.
The racy post was originally shared with Carano's 1.1 million Instagram followers on June 28, along with the caption: "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."
The 38-year-old's inspiration behind the powerful caption was that of music legend Prince, who said the words during his 1996 interview with NME magazine.
In the sultry pic, the MMA star-turned-actress can be seen posing topless, as she looks up and places both hands behind her head.
Despite looking incredible, not everybody was too pleased with the image, with MMA fighter Renzo Gracie writing in the comments section: "Put some clothes on… you don’t need it.. you are among the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.
"That makes you unique.. there’s no need for sex pics… you are the most beautiful woman that walked around. Simples as that."
However, it seems as if Gracie wasn't Carano's only critic, as Instagram has since removed the post entirely from her account, deeming it a violation of the platform's community guidelines.
Writing on Twitter to her 340,000+ followers, Carano said:
"So that’s what it’s like to be censored for no reason. Pic was taken down by Instagram. There’s much more important news today but that was some classic bullshit. The whole post was about freedom of expression. Violating zero rules. Ironic. Feels like I graduated. Thanks Karen".
Replying to her tweet, many of Carano's fans have also vowed to continue sharing the revealing photo on social media.
Per Instagram's community guidelines, nudity is prohibited. "This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks," the site states.
"It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed."
Since having the image removed, Carano has posted several expressive posts in which she has declared that she want's to be viewed as "art", adding that "art can be anything and everything it wants to be".
Despite never stepping inside the UFC Octagon, Carano was 7-1 throughout her MMA career, fighting for promotions like World Extreme Fighting, World Pro Fighting Championships, Strikeforce and EliteXC.
She lost her final fight against Cris Cyborg, before going on to star in the internationally popular Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
