A Nashville-based influencer has denied staging a motorcycle accident on Instagram after she was accused of “glamourising” the incident.
In July, Tiffany Mitchell uploaded a series of now-deleted photographs that showed her lying on the ground having accidentally driven off the road and fallen off her bike.
The lifestyle blogger accompanied the images with a lengthy caption explaining how she’d been riding with a group of friends in a town close to Nashville when the accident happened.
The photographs, taken by Mitchell’s friend Lindsay Grace Whiddon, show the influencer looking visibly hurt with a bottle of SmartWater beside her, prompting some followers to accuse her of product placement.
On Monday, Mitchell uploaded a series of videos to her Instagram Story explaining that she’d chosen to delete the post due to the amount of negative comments she’d received.
“It was starting to get a little bit out of control,” she told her 211,000 followers, noting that people seemed “very concerned” with her reasons for sharing photographs of the accident online.
The blogger explained that she and her friends had been taking photographs all day and that she was unaware that Whiddon was taking photographs at the time of the accident.
“When my bike went down, my friends were immediately by my side making sure I was okay,” she said, adding that no photos were taken until everybody knew that she was well and resting.
“That was when someone brought me the water,” Mitchell continued. “I was laying there processing everything and I didn’t know that Lindsay was taking photos. I wasn’t even thinking about it and the water could’ve been any brand.”
The influencer clarified that despite not being pictured wearing her helmet in the images, she “absolutely” had the protective head gear on while she was riding the bike and took it off only after she had fallen. To prove how seriously Mitchell takes bike safety, she urged her followers to take a safety course if they’re considering buying a two-wheeled vehicle anytime soon.
Mitchell went on to describe the accident as “very emotional”, referencing how a friend of hers died three years ago in a motorcycle accident.
Following the ordeal, Whiddon showed Mitchell the photographs she’d taken and the blogger explained that she was “extremely grateful” that such an “intense” moment had been documented.
“I wanted to share that moment with you guys, it’s vulnerability practise,” Mitchell explained. “This was a heavy moment for me that was scary and meant a lot and I had this treasure of having these images from it. Nothing about it was staged. Nothing about it was a sponsorship.”
As for her decision to delete the post, Mitchell said it brought a lot of negative attention to her feed and she vowed not to leave “that really vulnerable thing” open to any kind of hatred.
“I want to protect that moment,” she concluded.
The Independent has contacted Mitchell for further comment.
