“I think that people like to bully fat people.” – Lizzo
Known for her chart-topping pop anthems, larger-than-life personality, and body positivity, Lizzo has become the poster woman for confidence at any size. Recently, the pop star revealed her weight loss journey and slimmed-down frame. While she received tons of praise from her fans, it was also met with criticism rooted in fatphobia. Lizzo didn’t feed into the negativity, instead, she continued to slay on social media, rightfully flaunting the work she had put in to drop a speculated 60 pounds. She decided to speak up about the hate she’s received online during an interview on The Jason Lee Show.
When Lizzo was heavier, she was often the butt of insensitive fat jokes, and the topic of podcasts and TV show segments. And now, she’s being accused of getting too skinny. “I think bullying fat people is the only socially acceptable form of bullying,” she candidly told Jason Lee.
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People feel comfortable insulting fat people. This happens by comparison and name-calling. Lizzo shared her experience being frequently compared to Rasputia—a fictional cartoonish character from the 2007 film, Norbit. The 2007 film was condemned for its negative portrayal of fat people. “I’ve been called Rasputia so many times. I’ve been called Rasputia on my own music video set,” she revealed. “I had to just hold in the tears and keep going.”
According to the Journal of Behavior, Psychology and Sociology, “weight stigma is pervasive” and “stigmatizing individuals for their weight is consistently associated with negative consequences.” Weight status forms a predictive element as to whether or not a child will face bullying in their lifetime.
When Lizzo refused to reveal how many pounds she dropped, Lee asked her outright.
“I don’t want people to clock my tea,” she told the talk show host and producer who shared that he lost 123 pounds on his fitness journey. She did not want to allow people to “do the math” after they spent so much time spreading misinformation about her body on the internet.
“I’ve just seen a lot of TikToks where it’s like, Lizzo talks about her 500-pound weight loss,” she continued. “I was like…Yo, why are y’all putting numbers on me?”
It kind of annoys me,” she added.
Her experience in the workplace is not unique. Plus-size women know it well. Weight bias shows up in professional settings frequently. A 2021 article from the Journal of Business and Psychology reported that “overweight individuals are perceived as less intelligent, less conscientious, less self-disciplined, lazier, and sloppier.” This creates friction with their subordinates.
Body positivity, a movement heavily fronted by the labor of Black women, made progress for fat people. It took steps toward reducing stigma. Clothing campaigns, television series, and the music industry inched towards showing a more diverse world.
Precious Lee stalked runways across the globe. Michelle Buteau showed us the thickest can survive, and Wunmi Mosaku gave us a curvy love interest for the ages.
The mainstream backlash to that progress has been massive. “Heroin-chic” is back. SkinnyTok lives! People drop terms like “big back” daily. Discourse normalizes attacking people for the size of their bodies.
Even individuals who are not visibly plus-size, like Omarion, have faced hate for daring to show up without being as small as humanly possible. He hit the stage without a shredded eight-pack. Then he got dragged by the peanut gallery.
Statues are catching strays, too. Thomas J. Price created a 12-foot-bronze of a plus-size Black woman chilling, and people went nuts. People in larger bodies get unsolicited “advice” from people often. Lizzo called out how fatphobic people “feign concern” for others by accusing them of taking “the easy way out” by using obesity interventions or suggesting they will have future health challenges without so much as a glance at their MyChart.
The Jason Lee Show is now streaming on the Zeus network.
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