US comedian Whitney Cummings has been commended for sharing a photo of her nipple in response to extortionists who tried to blackmail money from her to stop them posting it online.
Cummings, 36, detailed how earlier this year she accidentally shared a video which showed her nipple on an Instagram story post.
When she realised, she deleted the footage, though some of her followers had screen grabbed the post and then asked her how much she would pay them to not share it.
On Twitter, she wrote: "In April I accidentally posted an insta story that showed nipple. Once I realised, 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.
"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."
Alongside this Cummings, who created the programme 2 Broke Girls and starred in her own sitcom called Whitney, posted the photo with which they had attempted to extort her with.
Explaining her reasoning more, she said: "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.
"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."
Even in the wake of this, she explained she received more threats, and said: "Now I'm getting threatened with 'we have access to your iCloud'.
"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."
Her reaction has prompted praise online, with actress Mia Farrow responding to her on twitter: "You are awesome Whitney!"
Others urged her to send the details of those who tried to extort her to the police, branding them "low life worms".
Some shared private images of themselves in support of Cummings, saying they "stood with" her.
