James Corden spoke out against fat shaming last year. It’s a very personal issue for The Late, Late Show host and he opened up this week about why he went public with his feelings, specifically relating to a fellow late night show host.
Find out what Corden had to say and why he chose to talk about it.
What Bill Maher said
Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher shared his opinion that people who are overweight should be shamed, and often. The host insisted that sparing obese people the painful truth isn’t doing them any favors.
“In August, 53 Americans died from mass shootings,” Maher said in September 2019 . “Terrible right? Do you know how many died from obesity? Forty thousand.”
“Fat shaming doesn’t need to end, it needs to make a comeback. Some amount of shame is good. We shamed people out of smoking and into wearing seat belts. We shamed them out of littering and most of them out of racism. Shame is the first step in reform.”
Corden’s reply to Maher
Corden spoke out the same month after hearing Maher say that “Fat isn’t a birth defect” and “Nobody comes out of the womb needing to buy two seats on the airplane.” Maher’s comments were shocking in how purposefully they were meant to inflict pain.
“There’s a common and insulting misconception that fat people are stupid and lazy, and we’re not,” Corden stated in reply to Maher on his late show. “We get it, we know. . . I’ve struggled my entire life trying to manage my weight and I suck at it. I’ve had good days and bad months. . .”
“In the meantime, Bill, while you’re encouraging people to think about what goes into their mouths,” Corden concluded, “just think a little harder about what comes out of yours.”
Meghan McCain responded to Corden’s rebuttal, praising him for standing up to the acerbic Maher.
“As someone who has been fat shammed (sic) pretty much since puberty and is told on a daily hourly basis by the internet I need to lose weight/diet,” she wrote, “I am so grateful for @JKCorden‘s message here. Also so much of the obesity epidemic is about poverty and access to health care.”
Corden explained why he went public against Maher
Corden revealed why he felt it was necessary to make clear that Maher’s words and attitude were horribly wrong. He told The New Yorker that he and his late night show writers worked for three days to get his message right.
“I just think it’s out of touch with actual people,” Corden said with regards to the comments made by Maher.
“You cannot forget what most people’s lives are like. You cannot forget how f***ing hard it is.
“And maybe the only slice of joy in your life is that cheeseburger. And it’s cheap. There are no chubby kids at my son’s school, because it’s a private school on the west side of LA.”
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