Emily Ratajkowski requests comedian Celeste Barber to stop mimicking her photos

Emily called the humor inherently misogynistic and expressed a desire to focus on her career.

Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski has asked comedian Celeste Barber to stop parodying her Instagram posts. Ratajkowski addressed the issue on a recent episode of her ‘High Low’ podcast, revealing her discomfort with Barber's humorous recreations of her images.

Celeste Barber, a 40-year-old Australian comedian, has gained a substantial following for her satirical takes on celebrities' Instagram posts. However, not all of her targets have appreciated the humor. Ratajkowski, 31, blocked Barber in 2021 after the comedian mocked one of her swimwear campaigns with a post captioned: “We are sick of you objectifying our bodies! Also, here’s my a**.”

Barber acknowledged the conflict during an interview with Fitzy and Wippa on Australia’s Nova radio station, saying: “I don’t think Emily is a fan. That’s OK, she’s allowed to not love it. But she blocked me.” The post also faced criticism from Barber’s followers, who accused it of perpetuating "internalised misogyny" and blaming women for being objectified when they display their bodies.

On her podcast, Ratajkowski clarified her stance, stating, “This whole drama with Celeste has been blown out of proportion. In general, I find her to be really funny. But, [the] message I was trying to send to her was, ‘I just don’t want you to do this to me anymore.'”

Ratajkowski expressed her desire to focus on her career and personal projects, including writing about her experiences in an industry that she says does not protect women and young girls, as well as managing her swimwear line. At the time of Barber’s post, Ratajkowski had published an essay in ‘The Cut’ titled ‘Buying Myself Back,’ discussing how her image was used without her consent.

“I was like, I’m not giving her my consent for this joke anymore. It just landed at a specific time for me,” Ratajkowski explained.

While Ratajkowski confirmed she holds no ill will toward Barber, she criticized the comedian’s style of humor as inherently misogynistic. “We really love to pick on female influencers, like they are considered the trash, lamest, most cringe, most embarrassing people on the planet,” she said. “I fundamentally find that to be sexist. Yeah, no s**t women want to be influencers – it’s one of the ways that women have learned to be successful and make money. They’re hustling.”