Jillian Michaels is getting backlash for clearly not understanding why so many people love Lizzo precisely for who she is.
The fitness personality and former “Biggest Loser” trainer made a few crude remarks about the Grammy-nominated artist’s body on BuzzFeed’s Twitter show “AM to DM” on Wednesday when co-host (and former HuffPost producer) Alex Berg mentioned she appreciated celebrities like Ashley Graham and Lizzo who preach self-acceptance and celebrate their bodies as they are.
“Why are we celebrating her body?” Michaels retorted, referring to Lizzo. “Why does it matter? Why aren’t we celebrating her music? ’Cause it isn’t gonna be awesome if she gets diabetes.”
Michaels didn’t stop there. When Berg attempted to counter, she spoke over her and said:
“I’m just being honest. Like, I love her music … but there’s never a moment where I’m like, ‘And I’m so glad that’s she’s overweight!’ … Why is it my job to care about her weight?”
Many people on Twitter were disturbed by Michaels’s comments, calling them outdated and fat-phobic.
Berg also published a tweet Wednesday explaining that she does not share Michaels’s views.
The New York Times reported in 2016 that the weight loss methods deployed on “The Biggest Loser,” which included intensive dieting and exercise, were not sustainable and that many of the contestants who lost weight on the show regained most of it back.
Michaels, whose 12-season stint on the show helped her launch a fitness empire, has been widely criticised by fitness experts for the harsh weight-loss tactics she used on the show, which included hurling insults and threats as well as seeming to derive joy from watching contestants struggle with extreme exercise.
She was also penalized on the show in 2013 for giving contestants on her team caffeine pills to help them lose more weight without permission from the show’s doctor.
In comments that echo the ones she made about Lizzo’s body, Michaels also expressed to Women’s Health UK last April that she feels as if the world has become too “politically correct” about weight.
“I think we’re politically correct to the point of endangering people,” she said.
She added:
“But obesity in itself is not something that should be glamorized. But we’ve become so politically correct that no one wants to say it.”