Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds' Wedding Is Shadow Banned Online For Being "Controversial"
Although celebrity weddings are often private affairs, photos from the events usually make their way onto the internet for fans to gawk at one point or another. People have been dying to see Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's wedding photos, but because of something called "shadow banning," they probably never will.
It's been over seven years since the happy couple tied the knot back in September of 2012, but the marriage has managed to stay pretty private as time has gone on.
Because Lively and Reynolds are pretty well known as an unproblematic couple, you may be wondering how exactly photos of their nuptials could be "controversial." As it turns out, they actually got married on a plantation, which is deemed incredibly offensive by some people.
Boone Hall Plantation in the Charleston area of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is the exact spot where the pair exchanged vows. Funnily enough, the plantation also happens to be the spot where some scenes from The Notebook were filmed, making it a pretty popular tourist destination.
Lively and Reynolds aren't the only ones to have a "plantation-style" ceremony, but since the trend is becoming more and more frowned upon, popular wedding planning sites like Pinterest and The Knot will no longer be promoting these kinds of ceremonies.
If you're a Pinterest user, you'll still be able to search for keywords like "plantation wedding," but you'll now notice a banner appears above potential pins, warning you that the content below may violate Pinterest's policies.
"Weddings should be a symbol of love and unity. Plantations represent none of those things. We are working to limit the distribution of this content and accounts across our platform, and continue to not accept advertisements for them," a Pinterest spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
[rebelmouse-image 25960225 photo_credit="Plantation Weddings | Pinterest" expand=1 original_size="3218x1194"]
Of course, the decision to shadow ban this kind of content hasn't come unprovoked. A civil rights advocacy group called Color of Change has been urging Pinterest and other sites to stop promoting plantation wedding-themed content.
"Plantations are physical reminders of one of the most horrific human rights abuses the world has ever seen. The wedding industry routinely denies the violent conditions Black people faced under chattel slavery by promoting plantations as romantic places to marry," a letter from the advocacy group reads.
Looks like you're out of luck if you've been hoping to catch a glimpse of Lively's dress!
There are stories everywhere. If you spot a newsworthy event in your city, send us a message, photo, or video @NarcityCanada on Twitter and Instagram.
