Television personality and celebrity personal trainer Jillian Michaels, best known for being a coach on NBC’s The Biggest Loser, has sparked anger within the woke body positivity movement after arguing there was no reason to celebrate pop singer Lizzo’s obesity.
“Why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? Why aren’t we celebrating her music?” Michaels said of Lizzo’s weight during an appearance on BuzzFeed News’s morning show AM to DM on Wednesday. “Because it isn’t going to be awesome if she gets diabetes.”
“I’m just being honest, I love her music, my kid loves her music… but there’s never been a moment where I’m like, ‘And I’m so glad she’s overweight.'”
The interview quickly went viral across social media, with members of the body positivity movement expressing their outrage that Michaels was even given a platform and accusing her of “body-shaming” Lizzo.
In response to the backlash, Michaels doubled down on her comments by posting a statement on Instagram that urged her followers to “prioritize their health.”
“As I’ve stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy, and equally deserving,” she wrote. “I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with obesity — heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few.”
Lizzo has long faced criticism for her failure to lose any weight, having recently announced that she was quitting Twitter because of trolls.
“Yeah I can’t do this Twitter shit no more.. too many trolls,” Lizzo tweeted earlier this week. “I’ll be back when I feel like it.”
Last month, economist and political analyst Boyce Watkins argued that part of her popularity has to do with America’s obesity epidemic.