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On Monday, Marie Claire blogger Maura Kelly enraged readers with her diatribe on how she hates looking at obese people—no, seriously, you guys, she gets really grossed out seeing larger people. In her story, tactfully titled "Should fatties get a room?" Kelly wrote:
I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room—just like I'd find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair.Yesterday, we questioned how the heck this post made it past Kelly's editors and MarieClaire.com's online directors. How can a writer, on the payroll and under the auspices of a major women's lifestyle website use her platform to talk about how she's "grossed out" when fat people kiss each other and she finds it distasteful to see fat people walk across a room? In Maura-Kelly-land, are only thin people allowed to be affectionate and walk in public?
To be fair, Kelly did try to issue an apology addendum to her post. But, rightfully so, her statement was called out as patronizing and disingenuous—sort of a I'm-sorry-you-got-upset fake out. It reads: "Believe it or not, I never wanted anyone to feel bullied or ashamed after reading this, and I sorely regret that it upset people so much. A lot of what I said was unnecessary; it wasn't productive, either." Then she goes on to re-emphasize how uncomfortable she feels when she sees obese people.
Come on. That's lame.
But you know what's even lamer? The official Marie Claire statement. We emailed the magazine's PR department for a statement and this is what we got back:
Maura Kelly is a provocative blogger. She has been extraordinarily moved by the thousands of responses she has received following her post about Mike & Molly. She has issued a response on our website, marieclaire.com.Well, readers, guess Marie Claire and its advertisers thank you for the pageviews and has nothing else to say about one of its paid writers publishing stories about how "grossed out" she is about having to look at larger people.
· Bigotry in Motion [Racked]
· Should fatties get a room? [Marie Claire]
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