Howard Stern’s Tourettish teardown of Gabourey Sidibe on Monday doesn’t merit the outrage it’s instigated, first because it’s partly true (her size is shocking, but it’s her acting that matters) and second because this is just more of Stern’s predictable shock-in-trade (listening to him and his echo, Robin Quivers, spin this out for an excruciatingly inarticulate four minutes reminded me that talk radio is the boomer equivalent of social texting: hours of nothing about nothing).
But it does open the door to a more compelling conversation about size, black women, and celebrity.
Can we just acknowledge that the black actresses at the ceremony, spanning a range of body types, allowed for a diversity seemingly forbidden to all the half-starved white women on display? From the typically svelte Paula Patton (seven months pregnant at the ceremony) to the curvy Mo’Nique to the stunningly zaftig Queen Latifah—and yes, Sidibe at the far extreme—these women represent a refreshingly real demographic, and an exhilarating resistance to Hollywood conformity.
Though Stern would be happy to see Sidibe (“the most enormous fat black chick I’ve ever seen”) wear a hair shirt instead of a ball gown for committing the crime of offending his delicate sensibilities, her red carpet swagger was a peak Oscar moment. Stern seems to have missed history in the making:the point isn’t how her weight will affect her ability to land more roles; it’s that she ended up with a nomination in the first place. Career over? Fat chance.
Tags: body type, fatshionistas, gabourey sidibe, Howard Stern, oscar fashion
Should we start blaming people for being fat, just like how we blame people for being smokers? or alcoholics? Sure, obesity can be something genetic, and not just someone who overindulges in food; but can’t the same thing be said for alcoholics? Children of alcoholic parents have more chance of becoming alcoholics. What I’m trying to say is, suddenly we act like it’s alright to be fat. As if it’s not the fat person’s fault.
It’s not that we have to condone obesity; I’m just putting Sidibe at the far end of a spectrum of size that showed a wider (excuse the pun) range of black female possibility at the Oscars than you see for white women. I found myself as aghast when I first saw Sidibe as Stern was, but again, she’s presenting herself as an actress, not a model. He has a point that her size will affect her career, but he seems to have missed the point that her size didn’t prevent her from coming this far, which is pretty remarkable in a culture obsessed with conventional appearances.