Ashley Benson Apologizes for Cecil the Lion Instagram Photo

Ashley Benson faced backlash from people when she posted a photo of herself modeling a lion costume.  Some people were upset with the caption of the photo, which referred to Cecil the lion.  (Cecil was a Southwest African lion that was killed in July).

Credit: Instagram

The caption originally read “Help! Can’t decide on my Halloween costume this year! What do you guys think of this Cecil the Lion costume?@yandy #thanksyandy#halloweencostume”.

After angry comments started flooding in, the words “Cecil the Lion” were changed to just “lion” on her Instagram photo. 

Ashley quickly responded to the backlash by posting this apology to Instagram:

“Yesterday’s post was in poor taste and I absolutely regret all of the hurt that photo caused.  The caption that was posted was incorrect and my costume was not Cecil the Lion, when I saw that, I contacted my management who handled the post and had it immediately changed.  I recognize that I am responsible for everything posted on my social accounts and this was an unfortunate oversight.  I am a supporter of Animal conservation and I will be donating all the proceeds of this deal to the World Wildlife Fund.  I love you all and I apologize if I let you down.”

The lion costume Ashley was wearing is sold by Yandy.  It is called the “Deluxe Lion Costume” and sells for $149.95.  Yandy also sells a cheaper “Cecil The Lion Costume”, which is different than the one Ashley was modeling.  The “Cecil The Lion Costume” sells for $118.95 and 20% of the proceeds from that costume will be given to a Global Conservation Organization.