While some may say no publicity is bad publicity, we have to wonder if that’s true for this Twitch streamer. Known online as Fanfan, Fiona Fan is a twenty-one-year-old woman from Vancouver, Canada, who mostly goes live under the “Just Chatting” category on the platform.
While she normally just talks about her life or whatever news is happening on a given day, she recently decided to tackle a more divisive topic — obesity. In a clip that has now gone viral, Fanfan said:
“When you go to a hotel, and they have a roped-off area for smoking, a dedicated smoking area, why don’t they f***ing have that for obese people? I know they don’t have that for heroin users, but why do we not shame people who are morbidly obese? It’s bad for them!”
It comes as no surprise that many people were furious at the comments. A post of the clip on /r/LiveStreamFail not only garnered over two-thousand-six-hundred comments but also became one of the most popular posts on the entirety of Reddit on Wednesday.
Several people suggested that Fanfan needed to be roped off in her own special area for the terrible take.
Several other users pointed out that fat-shaming has actually been linked to increased weight gain. Obesity expert Leslie Pristas discussed this during an interview with St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.
“Experiencing the shame and stress that comes with weight stigma can trigger biological processes that actually make you gain more weight. Which in turn puts you at-risk for experiencing more weight stigma,” Pristas said. “Shame leads to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can stimulate appetite, and increase risk for depression and anxiety — both of which contribute to unhealthy eating habits.”
Fanfan did offer a response after the clip gained notoriety online, but it didn’t defuse the situation as she seemed determined to defend her previous comments.
“The whole thing that I was saying was that we should not be glorifying people who are morbidly obese, which makes sense, doesn’t it? We should not be seeing someone who has health problems because they ate themselves until obese and call them brave. I stand by it.”
We’ll just have to wait and see if this affects Fanfan’s Twitch following after she’s generated so much controversy online.