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Home / Entertainment

Mischa Barton deletes spectacularly bad Black Lives Matter 'tribute'

By Nick Bond
news.com.au·
8 Jul, 2016 03:30 AM3 mins to read

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Mischa Barton sparked controversy with a bad taste Instagram post.

Mischa Barton sparked controversy with a bad taste Instagram post.

With America rocked by the very public deaths of two black men at the hands of police this week, celebrities in the US and across the world are voicing their condemnation of the killings and lending their support to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Read more: Beyonce's damning words about police shootings: 'Stop killing us'

Beyonce has updated her website with a stark message about "the killings of young men and women in our communities," Drake says he's "disheartened and truly scared" following the latest killings, while Janet Jackson posted one of her most politically charged songs to lend her voice to the movement.

And then there's former The OC star Mischa Barton. Currently on holiday in Europe, the 30-year-old actor was still plugged in to the news back at home, and posted her thoughts about the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed by police while selling CDs outside of a supermarket this week.

Barton's text was impassioned and from the heart - she calls the spate of police killings an "embarrassment to America," calling for "gun control, unity and a real President so think about that when this election is around the corner."

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"I'm truly heart broken to watch videos like the #altonsterling execution," Barton writes. "This may have been going on forever in the United States but thank god the pigs get caught on camera now."

However, Barton illustrated her thoughts, not with a picture of Sterling, but with a holiday picture.

This Instagram post was quickly deleted after an online backlash.
This Instagram post was quickly deleted after an online backlash.

Not just any holiday picture. Barton's thoughts on systemic police brutality against black men was set to a picture of the actor clad in a bikini, living it up on the back of a yacht, a glass of rosé in her hand.

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Those on social media were merciless:

poor mischa barton. getting roasted just because she was wearing a bikini from her "solemn contemplation of racism" collection.

— Charles Star, Hostile Witness (@Ugarles) July 7, 2016

great news, black people searching for answers after the latest police shootings, Mischa Barton's yacht has WiFi pic.twitter.com/w2XQwMXe3M

— Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) July 7, 2016

Look, at least she seems sad in the picture, we guess?

Barton soon deleted the picture following a swift and savage backlash from her fans - but it lives on as one of the more tone-deaf celebrity tributes we've seen recently.

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