What I Think about Fat People in Hollywood

I hate to say it, but I happen to agree with Howard Stern. This past week he said that actress Gabourey Sidibe will "never be in another movie" because she's "enormous." Since then, many people including Jessica Simpson have come out and said that he was wrong to say it. But let's face it ... he's right. We Americans, particularly when it comes to our popular culture, treat people differently if their bodies have even the smallest of beer bellies. The people we choose to lavish with adoration and try to emulate are the super-thin, almost transparent celebrities usually with rippling muscles to show-off in their performances. I haven't seen "Precious" but it's a good bet Sidibe is a better actor than Robert Pattinson. But whose every move do we follow, spend hundreds of dollars to purchase things with his picture on it, and who do young women want their boyfriends to look and act like? That's right, the thin, charaismatic guy.

In a perfect world, the amount of praise and adoration we give to individuals would be based more on merit, personality and achievements than looks, but we don't live in that world and probably never will. While it is an achievement to work out and develop the healthy physique that casting directors and photographers look for, it is perhaps a greater achievement to be an excellent person of high moral caliber and talent. But that just doesn't make money for anyone, whereas the beautiful people can bring in the dough.

So Jessica, Oprah and anyone else out there who thinks that the world is changing and we're ready to accept celebrities as fat as Sidibe, take another hard look at the world we live in. Nothing has changed. Hollywood, as well as American culture, will never value a fat person as much as the thin person because our society is more attracted and interested in the beautiful people. That goes all the way from Hollywood down to the local bars to the pictures we put on our blog sites (guilty). We are a society that uses physical appearance as one of the main qualifications for whom we choose to respect. That means if Sidibe wants to be respected as much as Sandra Bullock or Meryl Streep, she'd better drop about 200 pounds.