Howard Stern, professional asshole, mocks Gabourey Sidibe

Responding to hateful speech from Howard Stern feels almost silly – after all, being an asshole bigot is what the guy does for a living. But I’m too damn pissed off by his comments about Gabby Sidibe to leave them alone.

Stern and Robin Quivers, a black woman who lost 70 lbs through extreme dieting, went off on Sidibe following the Oscar ceremony, mostly targeting her for her weight. Stern called her, “The most enormous fat black chick I’ve ever seen.” And the hate just kept coming:

“You feel bad because everyone pretends that she’s part of show business and she’s never going to be in another movie,” Stern added. “What movie is she going to be in? ‘Blind Side 2,’ she could be the football player.”

Stern tried to frame the fat shaming as concern for Sidibe’s health:

“You just want to say to her, listen honey, now you got a little money in the bank, go get yourself thin, you’re gonna die in like three years.”

What a load of crap. Hollywood runs on the disordered eating of female celebrities. We watch actors get thinner and thinner and thinner and be praised for it. We read about the fad diets that are really dangerous eating disorders with trendy names. But the health concerns only come up when talking about an actor who’s fat?

The radio segment is also a huge racism party. Stern gets Sidibe’s name wrong in as many ways as he possibly can, which is apparently hilarious. Then there’s Stern and Quivers’ take on the, “Ohmygod, Gabby Sidibe is not Precious Jones!” meme. See, some folks are really struggling with the idea that Sidibe isn’t Precious, as if the character is the only kind of person a fat black woman can be and out of an inability to recognize that someone who looks like Sidibe can, um, act. Stern and Quivers aren’t buying that Sidibe is a real person, though – of course she must be Precious!

Robin Quivers: Look at that girl, she’s had despair. 

Howard Stern: She does despair. You don’t think she walks around like Precious?

Well, in Sidibe’s own words:

“When I was 14 I decided that whatever people say and no matter what I look like, I was going to be happy with myself – it’s like a force of will. And it worked for me.”

Stern and Quivers sadly can’t seem to see why Sidibe is so popular among celebrities and fans alike. She’s a total fan girl and is not letting her new-found fame change that. How do you not love her when she aces ‘N Sync trivia (with Lance Bass’ help) on Leno or hits on Gerard Butler on the red carpet? And Sidibe doesn’t look like your typical Hollywood star. She’s refreshingly relatable, like that friend you talk pop culture with all the time actually became a star and is still awesome. Sidibe’s a great role model for followers of pop culture who don’t meet Hollywood’s ideal of beauty, meaning, to varying degrees, anyone.

Stern and Quivers’ rant wasn’t just cruel to Sidibe, but to everyone who looks up to her as a model of change in pop culture, especially fat black girls who finally get to see someone like themselves in a positive light when they turn on the TV or open a magazine.

And I know this isn’t actually relevant to the discussion, but I thought Sidibe was one of the most gorgeous people on the Oscar red carpet:

As for the claim that Sidibe will never work again? Sadly, this hits home – there are not a lot of parts in Hollywood for black actors or fat actors. Prove Stern wrong, Hollywood.

If you want to subject yourself to the whole segment like I did you can listen to it on YouTube (I haven’t been able to find a complete transcript, but there’s not great subtitles available for the video). You can contact the Howard Stern Show to let them know what you think about their fat phobia and racism here.