Nicole Arbour Claims She Wasn’t Fired Over ‘Dear Fat People’ Video

When YouTube personality Nicole Arbour posted her “Dear Fat People” video, she knew it was going to make people mad, and she probably hoped that it would draw a lot of attention. What Nicole didn’t know was that it would also get her fired.

The “Dear Fat People” video, which you can check out below if you haven’t seen it already, drew the ire of fellow vloggers, viewers, and just about everyone else on the internet.

Nicole Arbour bills herself as a comedian, rather than just a YouTuber, but the “Dear Fat People” video falls flat more than anything else. The Guardian called it, “six minutes of tired cruelty filed under entertainment.”

In an earlier, somewhat less successful, attempt to gain viral traction, The Guardian reports that Nicole went off on “Instagram models” in a bizarre, energetic, slut-shaming rant. This time, she went the extra mile and claimed that her video had been pulled by YouTube in an act of censorship.

In the same breath, Arbour would also claim that the video was satire, and everyone was just too stupid to keep up.

Wow, I’m the first comedian in the history of @YouTube to be #censored There are graphic videos about murder and torture, but satire is 🙊🙅🏼

— Nicole Arbour (@NicoleArbour) September 6, 2015

CNN reported that a YouTube spokesperson confirmed that the account had been temporarily suspended, but with the account back up, the backlash continued.

In a statement made to Zap2it, director Pat Mills revealed that Nicole Arbour had been fired from a project they planned to work on together in the wake of the “Dear Fat People” fallout.

“We met with a woman who not only did traditional dance choreography, but was a cheerleader as well. She was fun and nice and had a lot of energy,” Mills said, in reference to Arbour. “She seemed like a perfect fit for the project. I shared the script with her. She said she dug it and was excited to come on board.”

Then “Dear Fat People” happened, and Mills was suddenly much less excited about the idea of working with the YouTuber.

The project, according to Mills, is actually about a 16-year-old girl who is bullied over her weight.

Arbour was quick to deny the claim that she had been fired from anything.

I’m not currently, nor have I been attached to any feature films as of late. 😉 #gossip — Nicole Arbour (@NicoleArbour) September 10, 2015

In a statement issued to People, Abour elaborated.

“I have never formally been attached to this project. We had spoken of it, and last I heard the team was doing a re-write. Pat Mills is using my YouTube story as a reason to get a low budget film that has not yet even started production press.”

Pat Mills also weighed in and issued his own statement to clarify matters.

“We never officially fired her because we never hired her because she never signed the contract. On an indie film that isn’t yet in production, such phrases are especially slippery.”

So Nicole Arbour may have not actually been fired from anything, because she hadn’t yet been hired in the first place, although that is a pretty fine distinction.

Abour claims that Mills is using her to grab some press attention, which has definitely happened. But it also seems reasonable to assume that the director of a movie focused on body acceptance wouldn’t want Arbour on his project either.

Whether or not Nicole Arbour was fired, she’s sticking to her guns in refusing to apologize for her video, and she has even promised that a new one is on the way.

Working on my next videos… 😉

— Nicole Arbour (@NicoleArbour) September 11, 2015

[Photo by Jag Gundu / Getty Images Entertainment]