This show, hosted by 5 cis skinny fatphobic men, hits bigotry rock bottom during the seventh episode of the first season.
The participant is a fat man and they decided that the whole episode would be focused on his weight loss and body size, starting the episode showing an “inspirational” before and after fatphobic comparison and the hosts cheering that fact.
But don’t worry, even after cheering it, they will instantly start shaming the person for his size change or disregarding his statements about his actual present size.
They just got into their house and they couldn’t stop themselves to ask this and instantly praise how gorgeous he is after gotten rid of some of the “ugly” fatness.
But that isn’t even the worst part. This crew of fatphobes decides to make jokes about clothes for fat people, gasping and laughing at plus size clothes because “they are big and that’s so funny.”
The participant, who is a comedian, ends the episode with a show. The editing obviously didn’t show his whole performance, and made sure they left a couple of starting funny jokes… and the fatphobic ones about the weight.
And there is where this fatphobic nightmare ends… But WAIT. You thought it would end there? NO. These fatphobes have a couple of fatphobic comments up their sleeves for you!
In conclusion: a very VERY unpleasant experience that should be killed with fire and erased from existence.
– Mod Guillermo
This episode may not be perfect, especially with the end comments, but the weight loss is something the participant wanted to do and did on his own. They are happy for him because he’s happy for himself. They focused on it in the episode because he was still wearing his old clothes, which were now much too big. Tan’s “dressing for a larger body” comment was about that, dressing for a body that is larger than the one he currently has, not a blanket statement about the desirability of bodies that are seen as “large”. I was disappointed that they didn’t show more variety in the episode and especially in the stand-up performance, but it’s not as bad as OP makes it seem in-context, and it’s not the fab five’s fault. There have been other episodes that show that they don’t have as much control over the show as they’d like, and have been put into uncomfortable situations by the producers of the show. I’d hate to see QE or the five lose popularity because of some shitty editing or bad choices on the part of the producers.. it’s not perfect, but it’s progress
I’m tired and stressed so I may not be able to fully articulate a proper response, and I apologize in advance for that. But I take issue with your comment.
First of all, bigotry isn’t on par with “shitting editing,” so saying that the show shouldn’t lose popularity because of something bigoted like it’s just a minor flaw and not a big deal is really insulting. But I highly doubt the show is going to lose popularity because one not well known blog made one single post about one single episode. It seems to me like your concerns are perhaps unreasonable in comparison to ours.
Second of all, it doesn’t matter if the weight loss was the contestant’s choice and that the hosts weren’t involved. The issue isn’t the weight loss in and of itself. The issue is the way people on the show, including both the hosts and the participant, are talking about weight and framing weight loss. Although, this blog is known to view weight loss negatively as well- you can see our tag on weight loss to learn more, and I also recommend @bigfatscience and their posts on weight loss.
Third, the mod who wrote this post literally watched the episode. That’s how he gets screenshots for everything he critiques. So saying “But it makes sense in context” as if he has none is rude. And sometimes, the context is irrelevant. The comments were insulting and bigoted. That’s all that really matters here.
Fourthly, the hosts may not be in complete control of their show. That doesn’t excuse bigotry from them. That doesn’t give them a free pass to make insulting and hurtful comments or laugh at the expense of fat people. So that’s not an excuse.
Finally, a critique of bigotry is not an attack. We are not randomly attacking a progressive show for no reason. But for the record, being LGBTQIA+ isn’t the same as being progressive. Bigotry isn’t progressive. And this show could be a lot more progressive and a lot less insulting.
– Mod Bella
How is it the editing when they are saying those things themselves? This is like every fucking bigot ever always saying that their bigoted comments are “being taken out of context.” No. We know the context. The context is that they were fatphobes for no reason.
HOLY SHIT. This is fucking horrible and disgusting.
We are here wondering how nobody brought this to our attention before? Talking about how apparently some things are “too sacred” to be “tainted” with criticism and are given a free card to fuck fat and disabled people over.
Remember Brooklyn 99? That supposedly supermega progressive show that was the sacred Holy Grail of progressives? We were the first ones (at least that I know of) who criticized their horrible fatphobia. And I think we made a lot of people realize that there is nothing too sacred to call out for its bigotry.
I don’t care how important Queer Eye is for you. I am gay and I get the queer representation part of it, but I am not going to take it and defend it no matter what when it is shitting on another oppressed group.
Fuck that. Be better. And I wish this post became viral but this post isn’t going to affect their ratings no matter how big it gets. Not that I would care if it did.
All we want is to make people realize where and when there is fatphobia, and to not let it pass. We want every single one of our followers to analyze it, process it and react to it accordingly.
Stop giving fatphobia a pass just because you think it is less important than the other particular form of oppression that YOU suffer.
– Mod Guillermo
I think it’s especially important to talk about fatphobia in the queer community because of how AIDS has impacted the culture. Eating disorders are incredibly prominent among gay men and it’s because of the AIDS epidemic. See, during the AIDS epidemic, it was incredibly difficult to maintain muscle tone when one had been diagnosed with AIDS. Our culture is already predisposed to idealize fit and well muscled bodies, but when an illness comes around that’s sexually transmittable and can sometimes be identified by lack of muscle mass, any body that did not fit this ideal became repulsive (I’m sorry I do not want to devalue those struggling with HIV/AIDS and you are in no way repulsive. You are beautiful and valued. I’m just describing how it is seen culturally). So it’s now a huge problem in the community how common it is for gay men to struggle with eating disorders. And I think that episode of Queer Eye comes directly from that place. And no, they aren’t self-aware about the harm they’re doing but I think people need to know this fatphobia has extra dimensions to it. And we need to educate ourselves on how fatphobia affects gay men specifically.
ForLoveFromFear 