Nicole Arbour Refuses ‘The View’s’ Demand For An Apology
Nicole Arbour is standing by her work and standing her ground against those that would demand the comedian censor herself to the satisfaction of others and the ladies on The View top that list. The woman responsible for that “Dear Fat People” video has responded to backlash from the video by stating unabashedly that the video was intended to be offensive.
“That video was made to offend people, just the way I do with all my other videos,” Ms. Arbour said. “It’s just satire, it’s just being silly. I’m just having a bit of fun, and that’s what we did.”
Ms. Arbour reveals that it wasn’t her decision alone to create the video that dismisses shaming and criticizes the comedian’s overweight audiences.
“That topic was actually voted in by fans, some of whom are fat,” she continued. “They’re like, ‘You can’t make fun of some people and not make fun of me too.'”
Joy Behar was the most outspoken, seemingly the most outspoken of the ladies and, according to People magazine, she found it troubling that the “Dear Fat People” creator is not overweight herself.
“I’m a comic, so if I’m going to do a joke about a fat person, I’m going to say I’m fat first,” Behar said. “You’re not fat. That’s the problem.”
The View co-host didn’t stop there. She also criticized Arbour for claiming to feel empathy for those people she criticizes in her YouTube videos.
“You sort of hide behind this, ‘Well it’s not healthy,'” Joy said. “That’s bull and you know it. You don’t care about their health.”
“I do care about people’s health, but the whole thing was a joke and I make fun of myself all the time,” Nicole said. “I think we’ve all got to make jokes about everybody.”
The truth is that, while this video may be offensive and may even alienate both fans and colleagues, as The Kansas City Star points out, Nicole has every right to create this type of content. Being able to create content and share it publicly is the very definition of living in a free society, so, while you have every right to dislike “Dear Fat People,” let everyone know it offends you, and even create a rebuttal video, you don’t have a right to demand an apology or to lobby to have it removed.
As Nicole Arbour just begins to touch upon with her statement that “I think we’ve all got to make jokes about everybody,” freedom of expression works both ways. If you limit the freedom of one, you limit the freedom of all.
[Featured image: Nicole Arbour courtesy of Jag Gundu/Getty Images]
