Nicole Arbour Calls Critics ‘Slow’ For ‘Dear Fat People’ Backlash — Says Video Is ‘Satire’

When YouTube comedienne Nicole Arbour posted “Dear Fat People,” she must’ve known the response wouldn’t be entirely positive. In the preface to her diatribe, she predicted that it would make everyone mad.

And it has, inspiring reaction videos and life-affirming speeches to counteract her six-minute series of one-liners, poking fun at “standing sweat,” zombie metaphors, and body odor. Central to “Dear Fat People” is Arbour’s belief that “fat-shaming is not a thing,” ABC News added.

“(They) made that up. That’s a race card with no race. I’m not saying this to be an a**hole, I’m saying it because your friends should be saying it to you.”

Before covering the various criticisms and encouraging a bevy of responses on social media that prove society has come a long way when it comes to acceptance, let’s focus for a minute on the core message of “Dear Fat People.”

Amid the lazy jokes and cruel metaphors, Nicole tried to make this point (addressed at the obese and not overweight, and not those whose weight problems are not attributed to health problems and poor genes): She argued the obese are damaging their bodies with bad habits, comparing unhealthy eating with smoking and drug use in its ability to destroy health.

“OMG the hashtags #BodyPositive. If you want to be positive to your body, work out and eat well. That’s being positive to your body,” she explained, according to E! Online. “You really think if enough of you hashtag something bad for you, it makes it okay?”

And that’s not a bad point, but it didn’t help that she buried that commentary in jokes that have branded her a bully. Whitney Thore, a reality TV star whose curvy figure is the result of polycystic ovary syndrome, and not over-eating, called the video “heinous.”

“Fat-shaming is a thing, it’s a really big thing, no pun intended. It is the really nasty spawn of a larger parent problem called body-shaming… There are a lot of reasons why (individuals) are overweight or obese.”

In light of the ample backlash, Nicole responded with another video “Most Offensive Video EVER,” a rant against political correctness in which she declares that “keyboard warriors are trying to murder comedy.” Her response to the mass offense to “Dear Fat People:” it’s satire.

“You have to be really f**king slow to be offended by satire… My kids will live in a world where (we) can use stereotypes for funny jokes.”

She issued an apology to any children she may have offended, but otherwise insisted she won’t stray from sensitive topics in the future, criticizing YouTube for briefly banning her video from the site in what she considered an unacceptable attempt at censorship. She also insisted that the video was offensive because she’s a woman, reported Entertainment Tonight.

And according to Arbour, not everyone was offended or hates her.

https://twitter.com/inasoulgonemad/status/640403597675655168

https://twitter.com/NicoleArbour/status/640316750278488064?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

But underneath all the offense and outrage, the Guardian writer Lindy West accused Arbour of simply bad comedy, of recycling 5-year-old jokes that better comedians long ago abandoned.

“It’s too pedestrian. Too lazy. Too old. It has been covered ad nauseam,” West wrote.

What do you think? Were you offended by “Dear Fat People?”

[Photo Courtesy YouTube Screengrab]