Rihanna has made it clear: She owns her curves and takes pride in her thick figure. But after Rihanna recently gained a few pounds, some didn’t seem to share her big and beautiful pride. However, for every follower who urged Rihanna to diet and every blogger who used terms such as “plus-size,” there seemed to be more fans who approved of the songstress’ bigger booty.
This isn’t the first time that Rihanna has attracted attention for her weight gain. As the Inquisitr noted, after a sports reporter tried to fat-shame the songstress, she clapped back with a hostile meme, and her Twitter followers cheered her bigger booty, with “ thick Rihanna” going viral in the supportive tweets.
“Thick Rihanna is the best Rihanna.”
Now, however, some don’t seem quite so sure about Rihanna’s bigger booty. The latest saga of Rihanna’s weight gain began after her red carpet appearance at the Hollywood premiere of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , when a blogger labeled the songstress a “ plus-size singer,” according to Vibe . And there it was, the phrase that met with angry responses.
The blogger claimed that a magazine devoted to plus-size models defined “plus size” as for sizes 10 to 14, while a category known as “super-size” is for sizes 16 and up. Therefore, the blogger argued that Rihanna belonged into the world of plus-size women.
“At 5-ft-9 and about 160 pounds, Rihanna fits the category of plus-size.”
This resulted in even more of a backlash, with questions about why singers such as Adele aren’t referred to as plus-size, but Rihanna is. Vibe answered the question of what to call Rihanna if she isn’t labeled plus-size, praising “Bad Gal Riri” as “thick.”
“If @rihanna is not plus-size, what is she?” Bad Gal Riri is thick AF https://t.co/vYMltonGWk pic.twitter.com/yslkZs5uHR
— VIBE Magazine (@VibeMagazine) July 25, 2017
But some of Rihanna’s followers didn’t seem to appreciate those curves, with fat-shaming trolls recommending that the singer go on a diet, according to Capital FM .
Turning to Twitter, the fat-shaming haters attacked the singer’s weight gain.
“She looks fat!!! Why riri? Go on a diet.”
Others contended that rather than celebrate Rihanna’s bigger booty, her weight gain wasn’t very pretty, and that her clothes were now too tight. One claimed that the added pounds “doesn’t suit” the singer, while another taunted that Rihanna’s weight gain is “getting out of hand.” Some even mocked her.
“Rihanna is that friend who gained weight but won’t accept she needs to buy a larger size,” wrote one Twitter user.
As for what Rihanna herself might think of the brouhaha over her bigger body, she created the term Thickanna back in 2013 when a fan demanded to know if she had gained some weight. The singer responded with a positive affirmation about her weight gain.
“Yasss! #progress #operationThickanna.”
In other words, you can call Rihanna plus-size, you can tell her to go on a diet, or you can mock her, but if you want to get a rise out of fat-shaming Rihanna, you’re wasting your time. And you also don’t want to mess with Rihanna’s most loyal supporters in her fan club , the Rihanna Navy, noted Revelist.
When the Rihanna Navy heard about the use of the “plus-size” category for RiRi, they fought back by comparing their own bodies and mocking the term. One claimed that if Rihanna is plus-size, then she is quadruple-size, and another declared that if RiRi is plus-size, then she is morbidly obese. Others came up with similar ways to ridicule the “plus-size” label.
“If Rihanna is plus-sized, just call me Shamu,” mocked one loyal fan.
And some warned that this type of body shaming can even be dangerous, leading to eating disorders.
“It can cause severe body image issues and eating disorders in others,” cautioned one fan.
The argument wasn’t limited to Twitter, however. Rihanna’s recent Instagram photos were met with similar cheers and jeers over her weight gain.
“Girl U getting fat,” scolded one Instagram follower.
“Beautiful,” praised another.
[Featured Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images]
