Jillian Michael comments about Lizzo

She was specifically asked about Lizzo in an interview. She didn’t just bring her up out of the blue.

The comment:

"I love her music, yeah, 100%. Don't know anything about her. I'm sure she's a cool, awesome chick," Michaels said. "But why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That's what I'm saying. Why aren't we celebrating her music?

"Because," the trainer and life coach said, "it isn't going to be awesome if she gets diabetes."

"I love her music. My kid loves her music. But there's never a moment where I'm like, 'And I'm so glad that she's overweight.' Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?," Michaels said.

Edit: I had to look up Lizzo. Very big girl - singer, wears super skimpy outfits on stage.

She was a fitness coach/trainer for the show ‘ the biggest loser’....I’m not really surprised she’s not sugar coating anything. With Lizzo, I feel like people are obsesssed with her body and not so much her music, at this point it just seems weird and pretentious. I don’t see anything wrong with what she said btw.

Jillian isn't wrong. 🤷🏼‍♀️

jseams1234 wrote: »

She was specifically asked about Lizzo in an interview. She didn’t just bring her up out of the blue.

The comment:

"I love her music, yeah, 100%. Don't know anything about her. I'm sure she's a cool, awesome chick," Michaels said. "But why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That's what I'm saying. Why aren't we celebrating her music?

"Because," the trainer and life coach said, "it isn't going to be awesome if she gets diabetes."

"I love her music. My kid loves her music. But there's never a moment where I'm like, 'And I'm so glad that she's overweight.' Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?," Michaels said.

Edit: I had to look up Lizzo. Very big girl - singer, wears super skimpy outfits on stage.

This - shocking - the press have taken comments out of context to get a clickbait headline to get some ad revenue - who knew?!

Form an orderly queue of people who haven't read/watched the full interview and get offended on behalf of someone else.

I too have never heard of this singer but would probably say the same of any overweight/obese singer - they are famous for their music, not their body shape/size so that's what I'd judge them on and these days I listen to most stuff through Spotify and have no idea what they look like.

Edited to add - the opinion on this particular singers weight seems to be more of an issue for the interviewer than Jillian Michael's

My only comment here is Lizzo's on her way up, Jillian's on her way down. It's whatever.

I think it was inappropriate, really, for the interviewer to bring it up at all. Of course, fitness celebrity and workout-video business woman will bring up obesity in America. It's her deal. I feel like interviews like this are nothing but tricks to pit more and more people against one another, celebrity and otherwise. Not gonna lie, Lizzo's music is catchy and I get the songs stuck in my head all the time. And like Jillian, I don't care about her weight. It's not my place to determine anything about her, only if I like her music.

I guess I feel like it's really rude to take someone who is just living their life and doing their job and treating them like they're asking to always be some conversation piece about obesity and health.

When we're talking about real individuals with feelings, there's more than just being "right." It's whether or not it is necessary to treat them like they're nothing more than an object lesson for the rest of us.

There are overweight/obese people who are interested in having this conversation, but I don't remember Lizzo ever asking to be part of it which is why I am just struck by the rudeness of Michaels doing this. What's wrong with "Yeah, my kids and I really like her music." Given Michaels' profession and history, nobody is reasonably going to think that she now wants people to be obese just because she admits she sometimes listens to Lizzo.

extra_medium wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

I guess I feel like it's really rude to take someone who is just living their life and doing their job and treating them like they're asking to always be some conversation piece about obesity and health.

When we're talking about real individuals with feelings, there's more than just being "right." It's whether or not it is necessary to treat them like they're nothing more than an object lesson for the rest of us.

There are overweight/obese people who are interested in having this conversation, but I don't remember Lizzo ever asking to be part of it which is why I am just struck by the rudeness of Michaels doing this. What's wrong with "Yeah, my kids and I really like her music." Given Michaels' profession and history, nobody is reasonably going to think that she now wants people to be obese just because she admits she sometimes listens to Lizzo.

to be fair though I'm pretty sure the interviewer wasn't interested in Jillian's taste in music, and the question was part of a larger conversation about health. I think if anyone should be called out for rudeness it would be the interviewer for bringing Lizzo into it.

If someone asks me a question designed to solicit rude commentary, I can either engage with it and be rude or I can choose another path. I'm not sure exactly what the interviewer asked, but I think Michaels is responsible for what she chooses to say.

janejellyroll wrote: »

I guess I feel like it's really rude to take someone who is just living their life and doing their job and treating them like they're asking to always be some conversation piece about obesity and health.

When we're talking about real individuals with feelings, there's more than just being "right." It's whether or not it is necessary to treat them like they're nothing more than an object lesson for the rest of us.

There are overweight/obese people who are interested in having this conversation, but I don't remember Lizzo ever asking to be part of it which is why I am just struck by the rudeness of Michaels doing this. What's wrong with "Yeah, my kids and I really like her music." Given Michaels' profession and history, nobody is reasonably going to think that she now wants people to be obese just because she admits she sometimes listens to Lizzo.

I agree. Lizzo has been at the center of alot of social media weight scrutiny. I've never heard her promote obesity, but she does not hide her body, and this has led to a lot of internet trolling and bullying of her online, to the point she deleted several of her accounts because it was so hurtful. Considering Jillian is mostly famous for the Biggest Loser, where they were all accused of fat shaming, I'm not surprised an interviewer would ask the question hoping for a viral quote. Especially in the context of Lizzo leaving social media (where music promotion happens) rather than deal with all the negative comments about her size, I think a simple "It's not appropriate to discuss the weight and health of people publicly without their permission" would have been in better taste.

As has been discussed in other debate threads here, I suspect this again involves the question of whether obese people being "allowed" to not be ashamed of their weight equates with society "celebrating" or "glamorizing" an obese person's body, and therefore promoting obesity.

Having heard Lizzo interviewed, she does "celebrate her body", and includes some appearance-related material in her lyrics. I'm not at all saying she shouldn't do either of those things; they're fine. But they do put appearance questions on the table, in contrast to some other musicians who do their musical thing without reference to weight/appearance (but who are also criticized publically for their appearance, of course 🙄😬).

Jillian Michaels seems to be what passes for a fitness and health expert these days, and certainly is a fitness/health celebrity. She does have some professional knowledge/experience that's relevant to questions of weight management and health. In that context, it isn't surprising that interviewers would ask her opinion about something like this, or that she would express concern (that might actually be sincere concern, I don't know) about Lizzo's future health. (That, once pushed, she'd express that in a brash way is completely unsurprising.)

I like Lizzo's music in a casual way, and support her right to be the woman she chooses to be, including bodyweight and her sense of self-value/beauty, as long as it doesn't harm others. I don't personally care for JM, and I do think the interviewers in this case are way more about fanning controversy for reasons of clickbait, and not at all about eliciting useful, thoughtful, expert information for the benefit of readers. That seems reprehensible to me, though I understand what might motivate them to do it. It blows my mind that we would be manipulated by something so transparent, frankly.

And I really, really don't understand why people are interested in this kind of pointless faux controversy - how it helps improve our individual sense of well-being, or ability to live a rewarding life. But it does seem to be "important" in some mysterious cultural way. Meh.

:flowerforyou: to all.