Tiffany Mitchell defended her decision to post the glamorous photos of her July accident - which also happened to feature a bottle of branded water. Photos / Instagram
Tiffany Mitchell defended her decision to post the glamorous photos of her July accident - which also happened to feature a bottle of branded water. Photos / Instagram
A social media influencer has been accused of staging a motorcycle crash after posting touched-up photos of the event on Instagram.
Tiffany Mitchell, who has more than 211,000 followers on Instagram, defended her decision to post the glamorous photos of her July accident — which also happened to feature a bottle of branded water.
According to BuzzFeed, the influencer shared the post two weeks ago after she got into a motorcycle accident that left her shaken and with minor scrapes.
Photo / Instagram
Her friend, named Lindsey, then continued to take photos during and after the traumatic event.
Along with the photos, Mitchell described how the event unfolded in her Instagram post.
"We all drove back to my house with a green light from angels that cleaned me up in the ambulance, sat with our new friends listening to music and laughing until I fell asleep," she wrote.
She wrote that the accident affected her deeply as her partner died in a motorcycle crash three years ago.
"I'm resting and healing up my arm, and @ianwhitetattoos may need to touch up my wildflowers, but I am feeling so much better," she said.
Some fans shared their concern, flooding her comment section with well wishes and warm thoughts.
However, many were quick to accuse the influencer of setting up the glitzy "crash" shots for publicity.
Some questioned the nature of her apparent injuries and wondered why she had different coloured helmets.
"This is so staged! Falling to the pavement while in motion does not leave a black stain on the skin, it leaves you scratched and bleeding," one person wrote on Twitter.
Another agreed: "I'm an ex ICU nurse ... and that's not road rash. I call BS [bulls**t]".
And a third wrote: "Silver helmet in the pick 'before the accident' white helmet in the photos??"
Major suspicions arose when one of the photos showed a bottle of celeb-favourite Smartwater in the foreground.
Instagram is 100% the wildest website; this "influencer" staged a motorcycle crash & is adamantly claiming it was A REAL CRASH in a bid to sell Smart Water somehow pic.twitter.com/eHpOWLe6uw
The influencer removed the photos from her page after the online backlash and eventually responded to the accusations on Instagram.
"I've been accused of staging the accident to get attention, using it as a product placement opportunity with a water company, and other things I can't even wrap my head around," she wrote.
"I've been sharing real life stories here since I started my account. I've opened up about miscarriage, divorce, anxiety, losing my partner in a moto accident 3 years ago, and navigating the grief that followed.
She also posted Instagram videos showing her scratches from the accident. Photo / Instagram
"When I found out my professional photographer friend who I'd been shooting with earlier took photos of everything, I was completely moved. I shared this on my feed with humans who have been on a journey with me for years because I knew they would understand what it meant to me and I understood what it would mean to them."
She also posted Instagram videos showing her scratches and where the helmet hit, as well as more photos from the accident.
