Chrissy Teigen's team has claimed the screengrabs designer Michael Costello posted on Instagram as he accused the star of bullying are fake.
Earlier this week, the fashion designer claimed the TV personality bullied him on social media and tried to blacklist him from the fashion community back in 2014, and his post included grabs of alleged direct messages from Teigen, in which she is said to have written: "Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch."
However, on Thursday, a representative for the star told Business Insider the alleged DMs from her are fake.
Reporters at the outlet noted inconsistencies in the pictures, which appear to have an amalgamation of various Instagram features from throughout the years.
Notably, Teigen has been verified on Instagram since 2014, but the screenshots don't show the blue checkmark, suggesting they were taken before then. However, they show purple and blue messages, which weren't implemented until 2020, along with a video chat icon, which was added to the app back in 2018.
And Teigen's profile photo is one that she had changed no later than 2016, according to the article.
In a statement to E! News, Costello's rep denied the allegations, stating, "The fact that Chrissy Teigen's team is desperately trying to prove the DM's are fake and attempts to discredit Michael Costello, a victim of trauma and bullying by Chrissy Teigen both online and offline, confirms that she remains the same bully, despite her public apology."
Chrissy issued a public apology for her past online behaviour in a lengthy essay posted on Medium earlier this week.
