Model Presley Gerber is facing a backlash after comparing his decision to get a face tattoo to being transgender.
On Wednesday, Gerber, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, addressed the online ridicule he’s faced since unveiling his new cheek tattoo, which reads: “Misunderstood,” on Instagram.
“Most and a lot of people can get face lifts, change genders, lip injections, etc and it’s offensive to say anything in today’s day in [sic] age but I get a little face tattoo and now people love to hate me…” the 20-year-old wrote on his Instagram Stories. “Hmm?”
The model’s attempt to defend himself while comparing his tattoo to plastic surgery or gender reassignment surgery prompted criticism on social media, with some people accusing Gerber of “transphobia”.
“There is no comparison, attempting to do so was unacceptable,” one person tweeted in response, using the hashtags #transgender, #LGBTQA, #bigotry, #hate, #discrimination and #transphobia.
Another said: “And here’s Presley Gerber comparing getting a ‘misunderstood’ face tattoo to being transgender” alongside a screenshot of Gerber’s post.
“Did he compare getting a face tattoo to being transgender?!?!” someone else wrote on Twitter.
This is not the first time Gerber has spoken out in defence of his tattoo. In February, shortly after debuting the ink, Gerber told his more than 44,000 Instagram followers that he’d gotten the tattoo because he doesn’t “feel very understood”.
“You don’t know how I feel, you’re not in my head. What’s the meaning of the misunderstood tattoo is I don’t feel very understood, I guess,” he said on Instagram Stories. “I just wanted to come on here and be like, if anyone has s*** to say to me about this or anything else, or my family or how I grew up or anything, I will give you my address, I promise, and you can come say it to my face.”
