Comedian Whitney Cummings shares topless photo to shut down alleged extortion attempt
In yet another case of an attempted online extortion, a popular comedian is standing up to her alleged extortionist and taking it upon herself to post photos so the unnamed person no longer has the power.
Whitney Cummings took to Twitter Monday to explain what happened and stand up for any woman who has to deal with someone threatening them online because of personal photos.
"In April I accidentally posted an insta story that showed nipple," she wrote. "Once I realized, I deleted. The people who took screen grabs are trying to get money from me, some said they have offers to sell them, some are asking for money to not post the photo."
She continued, "They all must think I’m way more famous than I am, but they also must think I’m way more easily intimidated than I am. If anyone is gonna make money or likes off my nipple, it’s gonna be me. So here it all is, you foolish dorks."
In her second tweet, you can see the private message to Cummings that reads, "How much would it cost to not share this photo?"
"When a woman in the public eye is extorted, we have to spend time, money and energy dealing with it, hiring lawyers and security experts, and living with a pit in our stomach about when and how we will be humiliated. Y’all can have my nipple, but not my time or money anymore," she added.
In a surprising fashion, Cummings also didn't want to post any names of her alleged online attackers for their well-being.
"I'm not posting the names of the people trying to extort me because some of them might be dumb kids. I wouldn't want the stupid ideas I had when I was a teenager to follow me around forever or else every time someone Googled me, they'd see me shoplifting a NO FEAR t-shirt," she continued. "I'll be honest, I stand by most of my nudes. Frankly I'm way more embarrassed by all the inspirational quotes I've screen grabbed."
The blend of humor and seriousness really shows the strength the comedian and actress is taking back in the face of abuse. Right after her posts went live, she also started sharing messages and tweets from friends supporting her, in humorous ways of course.
"Thank you everyone who sent me embarrassing pictures of yourselves to make me feel better about my embarrassing photo. It means the world to me, but I wouldn't freak out if you stopped sending me photos of your hairy balls," she wrote, adding a picture of a fellow comedian that he shared to her in support.
Another had a fellow comedian in a Speedo.
"Real friends send you their embarrassing pix when you're embarrassing pix come out. Thank you @chrisdelia for humiliating yourself to make me feel better," she commented.
Finally she closed with a nod to the late, great Whitney Houston.
"Nobody is more bummed than me that #istandwithwhitney isn’t about Whitney Houston," she wrote.
