TLC Star Whitney Thore Had the Best Response to Comedian Nicole Arbour's Fat-Shaming Video
YouTube star and comedian Nicole Arbour posted a video lambasting fat people, which amassed more than 18 million views. In it, she likens overweight people to "Frankenstein" and "zombies" and says society should "shame people who have bad habits until they fucking stop."
TLC star Whitney Way Thore of My Big Fat Fabulous Life is having none of it. After all her comments on the video were deleted, Thore said, she decided to film and post her own response to Arbour.
Thore emphatically denounced Arbour's claim that "fat-shaming is not a thing" and "fat people made it up."
"Fat-shaming is a thing; it's a really big thing, no pun intended," Thore said. "It is the really nasty spawn of a larger parent problem called 'body-shaming,' which I'm fairly certain everyone on the planet, especially women, has experienced."
Arbour qualifies her message by saying, "People watching this with a specific health condition, this is not aimed at you." Thore addresses this head on, arguing Arbour's video inherently attacks anyone who is overweight as one cannot discern an individual's "health condition" by looking at them.
Thore begins by sarcastically expressing relief she is exempt from Arbour's shaming.
"Except you are talking about me because you can't see a person's health from looking at them," Thore continues after her feigned relief.
"The next time you see a fat person, you don't know whether that person has a medical condition that caused them to gain weight. You don't know if their mother just died. You don't know if they're depressed or suicidal or if they just lost 100 pounds. You don't know."
People responded to Thore's video both critically and favorably. One person accused all overweight people of having "a handy excuse" while another said the video inspired them not to harm themselves.
YouTube temporarily suspended Arbour's account and, according to the comedian's Tweets, removed all her videos after it was restored.
Internet outrage to her fat-shaming video did not elicit remorse in the comedian. She instead referred to herself as a "hero."
While Arbour stands behind her statement, Thore encouraged a contradictory sentiment. "So, this is what I want to say to fat people: You are loved, you are worthy, you are capable of so much more than you think," Thore concluded.
The full video can be viewed here:
