TikTok influencer Addison Rae is in hot water with Christians after posing in a Holy Trinity-themed bikini.
The swimsuit, a collaboration between athletic apparel company Adidas and irreverent fashion label Praying, features the words "Father" and "Son" on each side of the bikini top and "Holy Spirit" on the bikini bottom.
Rae posted a photo of herself posing in the swimsuit in a since-deleted Instagram post, seen below, that immediately created a fiery backlash as devout Christians excoriated the influencer for supposed blasphemy.
\u201caddison rae for praying by adidas\u201d— Addison Rae Updates (@Addison Rae Updates) 1659461730
Rae's photo only featured the top of the bikini, but that was plenty to outrage Christians. The comments below the post immediately filled up with angry comments calling the swimsuit "messed up" and "disrespectful."
One person wrote:
“Nah this disrespectful to Jesus. Sad what y’all do for money"
Another was far more pointed in their outrage.
“This is not okay! BLASPHEMY!”
Another asked why others weren't outraged.
“Is nobody gonna talk about this disrespecting religions?"
Many Christians made claims of religious persecution in their criticisms of the bikini.
\u201cWhy is it okay for people to attack, and mock Christians yet other religions are completely off limits? \nChristians like myself are tired of this double standard, and we are going to fight back. \n#sorrynotsorry \nhttps://t.co/RKB0bjo3oz\u201d— Kyra Marion Carol Bowlby (@Kyra Marion Carol Bowlby) 1659673443
Rae—an actor who appeared in Netflix's He's All That a gender-swapped remake of 90s teen movie She's All That—is among the top five most followed accounts on TikTok with 88 million followers and another 40 million on Instagram.
So her supposedly blasphemous photo reached enough eyes to continue the controversy long after she deleted it, and now Praying has been targeted by Christians too.
Though they didn't share Rae's photo, their Instagram features a photo of singer Christina Aguilera in the French version of the bikini as well as other models in the French and English versions.
The comments have filled up with the outraged praying for the brand's demise.
One such comment read:
"We rebuke this page in Jesus name!"
@greaterthan.la/Instagram
Hopefully Jesus has better things to do, but time will tell.
On Twitter most people found the whole thing a bit ridiculous and hypocritical.
\u201cchristians are so annoying they will call people snowflakes for wanting basic human rights or talking about genuine issues and then try and cancel addison rae for the praying bikini. they need a reality check\u201d— peachy (@peachy) 1659636174
\u201cchristian\u2019s when being violently homophobic and transphobic: \ud83d\ude42\ud83d\udc4d\n\nchristian\u2019s when addison rae wear religion themed bikini: \ud83d\ude21\ud83e\udd2c\ud83d\ude24\ud83d\udc4e\u201d— Durahan (@Durahan) 1659626100
\u201cthe way everyone is so angry at addison rae\u2019s adidas collab has me rollingggg like she doesn\u2019t owe a disrespectful religion respect\u2026and even then it\u2019s just a bikini it\u2019s such a first world problem, don\u2019t y\u2019all have other stuff to worry ab\u201d— lins \ud83c\udf3b\ud83e\ude90 (@lins \ud83c\udf3b\ud83e\ude90) 1659629433
\u201cthey\u2019re so fragile omfg ion even like addison but cmon bro\u201d— cyn (@cyn) 1659658883
\u201cnormally i dont care ab what tiktokers like her are doing, but her getting backlash for this from offended christians is so funny \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d maybe i support addison rae idk\u201d— mari (@mari) 1659666404
\u201cIsn\u2019t that the religion actively taking rights away from women? And they\u2019re upset over *checks notes* a bikini? Right.\u201d— Mike (@Mike) 1659639718
\u201c@rojepotism Right wing so-called Christians are doing a lot more harm to the world than this silly funny bikini. Pick your battle!\u201d— niz (@niz) 1659532166
\u201cChristians hating Addison Rae, oooh I just know that album gonna be so good\u201d— John Side B \ud83e\udea9 (@John Side B \ud83e\udea9) 1659676644
\u201cChristians trying to act oppressed is so funny we know behind closed doors that you\u2019re the biggest perverts of all #addisonrae #adidas #praying\u201d— francis (@francis) 1659601295
\u201ckeep this energy for people actually exploiting religion for monetary gain. Christians really should be more outraged by Joel Olsteen than by the bikini Addison Rae wears.\u201d— danny ice\ud83e\udd76 (@danny ice\ud83e\udd76) 1659728052
\u201cwhite christian tiktok canceling addison rae over a holy trinity bikini jsjsjskslq the only offensive thing about it is the 100$ it costs pls stop\u201d— reb \u0f3a\u2661\u0f3b (@reb \u0f3a\u2661\u0f3b) 1659626823
At least in Praying's case, the Christians' outrage has not seemed to make much impact.
Despite calls for the swimsuit to be removed from Praying's product line, it is still live on their website.