Did Instagram Censor a Parody Video Because of Cat Shaming?

A viral video parody making fun of an unusual-looking cat was allegedly removed by Instagram because it was shaming the cat. Really?

With its 400k followers, Wilfred Warrior is just another Instagram celebrity feline. But unlike fluffy ragdolls or cute Bengal cats, Wilfred, a Chinchilla Persian owes his fame to his particular appearance. See for yourself.

But other than Wilfred's unusual looks, this animal seems very nice and friendly based on his Instragram feed. His owner also confirmed that Wilfred is perfectly healthy. But when American comedian Michael Rapaport discovered this cat’s existence, he decided to create a parody video where he added his own voice over the footage.

Here is the original video posted by the owner of the cat:

And below is the voice over parody created by Michael Rapaport (beware the strong language):

But it seems that the parody video was removed by Instagram. According to Mr. Rapaport, Instagram “took that f***ing video down because they said I was shaming, somehow or another, it’s shaming. I’m shaming a f***ing cat.” Adding that “We’ve reached a new f***ing low on Instagram.”

However, the screenshot of the video removal notification message showed by the comedian doesn’t explicitly mention cat shaming as the main reason behind the withdrawal of the video, even though it states that “content that targets private individuals to degrade or shame them” can justify this type of action, among other things.

At this point, there are several possible causes:

• Copyright: according to the comedian, the owner of the cat is aware of the parody and did not oppose to it. In fact, it probably helped to increase his visibility and follower base. “The owners of that beautiful cat, Wilfred Warrior, they didn’t feel like I was shaming the cat; they thought it was funny,” said Michael Rapaport.
• Cat shaming: in a world where anybody can be offended by everything and generate “outrage” and “backlash,” this video probably triggered a few animal lover extremists lacking a basic sense of humor. Some of them probably decided to report the video to Instagram. Due to the viral nature of the parody, a tiny fraction of reports is enough to trigger an automatic response from the Instagram algorithm or an inadequate censorship from a low paid moderator.
• Buzz: perhaps the comedian is trying to create a buzz inside the buzz and made up this entire story to keep the interest alive. A sort of buzz inception.

What do you think?