Politics and religion might be the most famous topics to avoid on social media if you don’t feel like arguing, but there are quite a few, far less important ones that always generate way more heat than expected too. Posting pictures of yourself using the bathroom is one, as Jessica Simpson found out earlier this week when she dropped a goofy behind the scenes photo of herself peeing in a tent on set. I’m not sure she realized what she was getting into when she hit send, but her comment section immediately exploded into a heated war with users choosing sides.
Let’s back up and talk about the picture itself first, which isn’t graphic in the slightest. It features the pop star turned reality star turned actress half-squatting in the corner of a tent. The implication of what she’s doing is clear, and the caption hammers that home as it talks about having to go when you have to go. You can check out the post below before we get to the bananaland comment section…
Now, before we continue, I need to disclose I’m team peeing in weird places isn’t that big of a deal. Sometimes you just have to pee in an alley or pull over to the side of the road. It happens, and provided people aren’t being weird about it, it’s funny in a ridiculous kind of way. So, I don’t care that Jessica Simpson peed in a tent, and I don’t care that she posted it on social media. I’m all for having a smile at life’s awkward moments. But everyone does not share my viewpoint, nor Jessica Simpson’s.
Almost immediately after she dropped the peeing picture, her comment section was bombarded with people screaming about how this shot, which shows absolutely nothing, is graphic and inappropriate. And I’m not talking about a few random comments you really have to hunt for. I’m talking tons of comments of people acting like she personally peed on their shoes. Here’s an example that has more than two hundred likes…
Seriously? Why would you want to post this?
Now, I know what you’re thinking. That’s a negative comment, but it’s not exactly a giant middle finger. Well, we’re just getting started. She got hit with plenty of blandly negative comments like the one above, but she also got hit with a lot of far more specific ones, calling into question her classiness, her need for attention and how much further she’d be willing to go. Here’s one asking if she’s about to drop a pooping picture on everyone next…
What’s next a poop shot? We all human but some things should be done in private and not advertised. It’s NOT funny.
That comment and its aggressive capitalization resonated with more than a hundred people who liked it. There were also hundreds of additional comments from people who simply dropped responses like “Why?” or “Disgusting.” Someone even took a complete sideswipe and said the picture looks like something “gross” that Kourtney Kardashian would post. Several others also pointed out that Simpson is a “grown woman”, which apparently means she should not be either peeing in tents or peeing in tents and then posting pictures about it.
I didn’t scientifically count, but I would say the responses were pretty evenly split. As seen above, there were plenty calling Simpson out and trying to make her feel bad, but there were also a ton that were very supportive. Some empathized and talked about their own peeing stories. Some yelled at the angry commenters to lighten up and get it together, and others talked about how funny they personally thought the picture was. Here’s one defensive comment that has more than 500 likes…
Dude. These comments do not pass the vibe check. Im sober and I’ve done this a million times. It’s funny. You can’t see anything. She’s always been goofy. Y’all are just looking for reasons to judge and hate. Get a better hobby.
The great thing about Jessica Simpson is she’s always marched to the beat of her own music. She’s done what she’s wanted to do without letting the haters live her life. That’s been evident in her career choices. It’s been evident in her personal life choices, and it’s evident in how she uses social media. She’s not gonna let some haters influence what she does, especially when people are going to talk regardless of what she does. If she posts a bikini pic, they're gonna talk. If she posts a picture of her seemingly ageless mother, they're gonna talk. So, if she feels like posting another peeing picture in the future, they can just go ahead and talk.
