‘Hot Migrants’ Instagram account being accused of objectifying tragedy

[The account says it features “handsome men on their journey to Europe” / hotmigrants/Instagram]

A recently created Instagram account featuring good-looking men attempting to travel to Europe is being called ‘degrading’ and ‘disgusting.’

The ‘Hot Migrants’ account says it features “Handsome men on their journey to Europe. Their countries might be falling apart but their sex appeal still goes strong.”

The account, which now has over 2,800 followers, posts pictures of male refugees with captions like “Pretty in Pink. Gotta stay fresh as you try to start a new life,” and “Crossed the Aegean? Looking flawless in Lesbos?”

Despite the backlash, the creator – who has asked to remain anonymous – defended their intentions in starting the account.

“One of the people who was pleading for the borders to open caught my eye and I found myself recounting how many other times I pondered about some of these people’s fate,” they told the New York Magazine. “These photos bring the realities [of their journey] a bit closer. There is something to be said about finding comedy in such a tragedy. It helps to cope with the situation,”

People, however, are calling the account “degrading” and say that it is “disheartening” to see the refugee crisis being used in such a way.

“You are awful, those people are trying to survive and you are just kidding about their miserable life… Shame on you,” one user wrote.

“How disgusting is the person who came up with this account. What a pathetic way of making a mockery of the oppressed displaced wrecked civilians. They lost their homes their lively hoods and their families and what was left now was to have Fetish over their looks,” wrote another.