Jerry Saltz Got Banned From Facebook

Photo: Instagram/@jerrysaltz

New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz  is known almost as widely for his animated online persona as he is for his reviews (see Jerry Saltz on Why Street Art Throwdown is Complete Crap). He is famously fond of posting provocative, sexually explicit artwork on both his Facebook and Instagram pages, much to both the chagrin and amusement of art world onlookers. But it appears this time, he may have gone too far, at least in the eyes of Facebook and some of his (apparently ill-advised) Facebook friends.

Earlier this afternoon, Saltz uploaded a handwritten note to his Instagram page, which reads: “To all the Purity Police who complained to Facebook that my Midieval [sic] + Ancient pics were “sexist,” “abusive,” and “misogynist:” Congratulations!! You got me axed from Facebook. You will pay in blood, but not your own. Xxo”

While Saltz’s page is still alive on Facebook, it appears he is no longer at its helm. Numerous inquiries from friends as to whether he “can reply to this” have yielded nothing, leading us to believe he is either temporarily or permanently locked out of his account. While Saltz wasn’t able to immediately respond to our inquiries, we look forward to hearing his thoughts on the matter—including exactly whose blood the so-called “Purity Police” will be paying for their mistake in.

The fact that Saltz hasn’t yet met the same fate on Instagram is nothing short of a miracle, given the photo-sharing website’s predilection for giving the boot to nude images. But it looks like they’re softening their stance on naked bodies, at least those of the fine art variety—they even recently apologized to an artist for removing her painting from the site (see Instagram Apologizes to Artist Over Topless Cartoon Ban).

For now, it looks like we’ll all just have to live with the cruel fate of a Saltz-less Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, can you hear our cries of agony?


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