Los Angeles - Pop star Selena Gomez has deleted the controversial picture of herself popping her leg out to show off bare ankle at a mosque in Abu Dhabi.

Gomes, 22, was in the city to welcome the New Year with friends including Kendall Jenner, Shay Mitchell, Cody Simpson, and Gigi Hadid, reported Us magazine.

The Instagram picture got criticism for the singer as the pose was deemed as a sign of impropriety.

"I was just thinking, why purposely go to a sacred place and do something considered disrespectful?" one commenter wrote. Gomez, however, did not comment on the controversy. PTI