Miley Cyrus has been criticised by a feminist baker for copying her cake design.
On Tuesday, the "Wrecking Ball" singer posted a photo of herself licking a cake decorated with the words “Abortion is Healthcare” on Instagram.
The image, Cyrus wrote in the caption, was to promote her upcoming collaboration with fashion designer Marc Jacobs and Planned Parenthood.
It wasn’t long before the photo – which has since amassed more than 4m likes – was brought to the attention of Becca Rea-Holloway, a self-proclaimed “rage baker” who has more than 101,000 followers under the Instagram handle @thesweetfeminist. The baker's cakes include designs about a number of topics including toxic masculinity, sexual harassment and racism.
Rea-Holloway shared an image of a near identical cake she had made to her social media account just a few weeks ago after Alabama passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the US.
The baker claimed that Miley did not credit or compensate her for the cake design and called the move to use the cake “direct theft”.
“It’s literally my exact handwriting, message, and concept,” Rea-Holloway wrote on Instagram.
“Cake art is for everyone, but this is inexcusable.”
After Cyrus spotted Rea-Holloway’s post, the Black Mirror actor responded with an apology.
“We saw the image online and didn’t realise it was yours,” Cyrus commented.
“We will absolutely tag you for your work.”
Cyrus went on to explain that the image of the cake was not being used in the designs for her collaboration.
“It is just on the post and not on the merchandise but we will absolutely tag you and give you the credit for your art,” the 26-year-old added.
“If you could please correct your post, as we’re going to make sure you have all the credit you deserve... thanks for sharing your art and inspiring us.”
However, Cyrus's attempt at resolution was not well received by Rea-Holloway who continued to call the use of her design “blatantly and wilfully neglectful and deceitful".
“My original image was shared widely, but it certainly would not have been difficult for someone on your team to trace it back to the source (this is clear from the number of people who immediately recognised it as my work),” the baker wrote on Instagram.
"I would have been more than happy to work with you on a collaboration for this project, but instead my work was just copied without compensation.
“Someone got paid to make, style, and photograph this cake, and it wasn’t me."
Cyrus has since updated her Instagram post to include a tag for The Sweet Feminist.
However, there is no mention of the baker in the caption.
Cyrus is one of a number of celebrities who have been using their platforms to publicly condemn the new abortion bans being instated in the US as of late.
On 16 May, Rihanna shared a compilation photograph on Instagram of the male legislators who voted to ban abortion in Alabama.
“Take a look. These are the idiots making decisions for WOMEN in America,” the singer wrote in the caption. “SHAME ON YOU!!!!”
Lady Gaga also shared a message of solidarity with her followers on Twitter following the passing of the Alabama abortion bill.
“It is an outrage to ban abortion in Alabama period, and all the more heinous that it excludes those [who] have been raped or are experiencing incest non-consensual or not,” the A Star Is Born actor wrote.
“So there's a higher penalty for doctors who perform these operations than for most rapists?”
Gaga added that the new abortion law is a “travesty”, saying that she will “pray for all these women and young girls who will suffer at the hands of this system”.
To find out how you can support women in the American states where abortion has been banned, click here.
