Nikki Sixx Slams Facebook After Site Censors Controversial Photos
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has aimed his axe at a surprising new target: Facebook. More specifically, what he views as the site's arcane community standards.
Sixx's fracas with the social networking behemoth began when the bassist turned author and photographer posted an outtake from his upcoming photography book/memoir 'This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx,' which features many of Sixx's Joel-Peter Witkin-influenced portraits of cultural outcasts.
"I started by
posting one of the photos from my book, it was actually an outtake -- a way to give fans something that won't be in the book." Sixx tells Spinner.
He continues, "It was this girl Farah -- she's about 350 pounds and she saw her mother kill herself and was put out on the streets for prostitution and she ended up doing pornography. I was looking for a woman that would pose nude that was extremely overweight -- there's a bunch of messages behind that."
"So I posted this nude picture of her, and it was deleted by Facebook. And I went, 'Oh, you can't put art on Facebook?' So then I posted another photo that I shot of a guy who's transgender[ed]. So he had breasts, but he's still a guy."
Predictably, the powers that be at Facebook didn't take Sixx's image in stride and banned it as well. Next, he tried his luck at sharing art from his newest musical project
Sixx:A.M.
"I posted Sixx:A.M.'s 'Lies of the Beautiful People' single, which features another one of my photographs of a girl who has had half her face burned off, and it was also deleted saying 'Final notice -- you can't post any more of your photos.'"
Ever the contrarian, Sixx took stock of the social context in which his art was being judged and came up with a new game plan.
"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' 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."
In a surprising move, Facebook's administrators didn't take Sixx's profile down. Instead, the site systematically deleted the other accounts that had adopted the group's single cover shot as their profile picture, including that of Sixx:A.M.'s lead singer James Michael.
"They didn't delete my account but they deleted James Michael and a number of fans, 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."
The photos, taken at the Royal York in Toronto where the rocker was giving a celebrity interview as part of Canadian Music Week, show Sixx and his lady companion in various states of undress. Though they're risqué, the shots refrain from showing actual nudity and are in line with some of the teenage profile pictures that Sixx spotted during this whole debacle.
Though he's not exactly sure what social injustice his crusade is focusing on, as a lifelong artist, Sixx is willing to explore the matter to find out.
"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."
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He is still so hot!
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Yea if your on acid.
maybe he should stick to music.
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So a lame guitarist from a lame old band who is now an "artist" wants to post nude shots of 350lb women on his facebook page as "art"? Pathetic..but hey so many people on facebook are pathetic....
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go listen to Coldplay........
It's not art, it's sick.
There is no art in taking a picture.
If you drew it it would be different.
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Anyone who believes photography is not an art is indeed a zero.
No art in a photo? Tell that to Ansel Adams, moron.
All it takes to be art (and this is a damn fact) is intention, presentation, and convention. It needs to be made with the intention of being art, presented as such, and at least one other person needs to believe it's art. Do some studying and learn something.
No, this rates up there with that NYC elephant dung exhibit. (by the way was NOT considered "art") When you take a picture it is just rated by the performance of the photographer. It isn't rated by what's snapped but by how well it was taken.
A picture is also measured good or bad in what's in the picture. If it's a fly then it's just a stupid picture. If they're nude or fat, ugly, disfigured, what not quality goes in the trash.
KICK START YOUR BRAIN , your fried , you are one step above charlie sheen .
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ur an idiot....
I'm for banning the pics because Facebook has to draw the line somewhere. Do you really want your kid logging in & seeing 1/2 naked pics of this guy & his "art"? I don't. Put it on another site pal, your fans will find it.
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the rules should apply to all then and i will bet a million dollars that your kids or their friends have some even more questionable photos on their pages....
your the fkn idiot if u let ur kids on facebook or any other site...piss off and take ur kids to the tv and watch scooby doo hoe
what's "happening" is that this kind of imagery would indeed be considered distasteful to many people and a public forum like facebook is not the place for it. Nikof6 can put all the shocking pictures he wants in his book but not someplace where everyone has to look at it. These celebrities who think they can do whatever the heck they want make me SICK.
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Kind of stupid of him to think all of his fans are adults or mature enough for porn.
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This guy is such a douche. All the guys in that band are still desperately clinging to their glory days and trying to still be so cool.
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From Jerome, Id....the punk that made a life outa a stolen guitar...messed up then....not sure what to think about his latest form of "art"?
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