After a fun-filled holiday weekend, Kaley Cuoco isn't having the best July 5. The actress posted several photos of her Fourth of July fun on Instagram. One of those photos was of her three dogs, who were under the care of dog-sitters at The Pet Handler while Cuoco was out of town. “Thank you @the_pet_handler for taking care of the squad while [I'm] out of town! 4th of July pups!!!!!!!” she captioned the picture. In the now-deleted post, the pups are sporting American flag bandanas — and sitting on an American flag.
It's considered a sign of disrespect to let the national flag touch the ground. And people were quick to call the Big Bang actress out on it. Outlets including Page Six and The Daily Caller captured screenshots of the post and negative comments before Cuoco deleted it. "[T]his is simply disrespectful," wrote one person. Another critic wrote, "[L]et me remind you that [a] lot of blood was sacrificed just to keep the flag high... If you have a lil bit of respect for it you should not only remove this picture but also apologise to the people whose feeling must have got [sic] hurt." On Twitter, one person who took offence to the photo said that Cuoco "can't be that stupid. It was intentional."
Meanwhile, others are coming to the star's defence, deeming the backlash an overreaction. "It's a cute dog pic, not a flag on fire or being trampled," tweeted one supporter. "Sorry about your post with your puppies Kaley," a fan commented on another Instagram photo. "You didn't mean to offend anybody." Do you find the photo offensive? Or is this just another case of Internet rage gone overboard?
https://t.co/rbYXWzLtff OK, c'mon people. It's a cute dog pic, not a flag on fire or being trampled. Go solve a real crisis. #KaleyCuoco
— Miss Cole (@FlirtyCole) July 5, 2016