Piers Morgan

Tess Holliday: Public Health Threat

UK Journalist Piers Morgan is concerned about Tess Holliday. Apparently, he sees her as a public health threat. He wrote on Instagram:

As Britain battles an ever-worsening obesity crisis, this is the new cover of Cosmo. Apparently we’re supposed to view it as a “huge step forward for body positivity.” What a load of old baloney. This cover is just as dangerous & misguided as celebrating size zero models.

Morgan Has a Different Standard for Men

Morgan himself has a BMI of 30, which is a size that signals obesity might be  personal issue for him. Writing in the Toronto Star, Emma Teitel suggested that Morgan applies his standards for public appearance only to women:

Funny, I don’t recall Morgan objecting so vociferously when DJ Khaled, another celebrity of considerable size, appeared on the covers of various pop culture magazines in recent years. I don’t recall Morgan accusing Khaled of promoting obesity for merely existing. But why would he? DJ Khaled is a guy, and Morgan’s problem isn’t with fat guys, it’s with fat women, specifically fat women who refuse to hate themselves. If you think I’m being hyperbolic, go online and observe the uniquely toxic brand of cruelty directed at Holliday and other female plus size models.

This would explain why he doesn’t think he’s promoting obesity when he hosts Good Morning Britain on ITV.

Holliday Brushes It Off

In a tweet with 4,300 likes, Holliday brushed off Morgan’s insults:

I’m American so you don’t have to worry about my fat a**.

Worry about what horrible people you are by whining about how me being on the cover of a glossy magazine impacts your small-minded life.

Cosmopolitan editor Farrah Storr defended the cover, saying:

This is one cover, which has a larger lady on the cover, in a sea, in a world, in a culture which has venerated – since I can remember – thinness.

By and large, we agree with the view that Rebecca Reid expressed about this publicity stunt. “No one is going to aim for obesity because of Tess Holliday,” she wrote. The only lessons we can take from any of this are all about hypocrisy. People are eager to point fingers at others, while displaying spectacular ignorance about obesity.

And by the way, hate kills. So tone it down, please.

Click here for more from Reid and here for more from Teitel.

Piers Morgan in 2013, photograph © iDominick / WikiMedia Commons

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September 4, 2018