‘This idea that he is a representative of health is such nonsense’: Magda Szubanski blasts Pete Evans and fat shaming critics who trolled her over COVID campaign
Magda Szubanski was targeted by vile trolls on Twitter who fat shamed her following her participation in the Victorian Government’s COVID campaign.
And the comedy icon, 59, has made it clear that their hateful words about her weight has no effect on her, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph’s Stellar magazine.
‘I am no longer stung by that. But I won’t let them use it as a weapon to push fat people, or anyone really, out of the conversation,’ she said.
‘I won’t let them use it as a weapon’: Australian comedy icon Magda Szubanski, 59, (pictured) has blasted the critics who fat shamed her following her participation in the Victorian Government’s COVID campaign
‘And, as a fat person, you’re not supposed to ever fight back. You’re supposed to just cop it because you’re fat and you brought that on yourself. I thought, “Well, f**k that!”
In the Victorian Government’s COVID ad campaign, Magda reprised her famous character Sharon Strzelecki and urged people to stay at home amid the pandemic.
Former My Kitchen Rules chef Pete Evans branded the ad as ‘the most offensive and disgraceful’ thing he’d ever seen in a social media post.
Defiant: ‘As a fat person, you’re not supposed to ever fight back. You’re supposed to just cop it because you’re fat and you brought that on yourself,’ she said. Pictured is Magda as Sharon Strzelecki in the Victorian Government’s COVID ad
Polarising: Pete Evans (pictured) branded the COVID campaign as ‘the most offensive and disgraceful’ thing he’d ever seen. He also claimed in his post the government ‘doesn’t want to help people get healthy’. Many of his supporters felt this was a reference to Szubanski’s weight
Evans, who believes the Paleo diet can cure cancer and autism, also claimed in his post that the Victorian government ‘doesn’t want to help people get healthy’ – and many of his supporters felt this was a subtle reference to Szubanski’s weight.
After being flooded with abuse about her size, Szubanski tweeted that she was ‘sick of skinny people’ like Evans thinking they are better than everybody else.
She told Stellar this week that she did not hesitate slamming the former TV personality after feeling fat shamed by his comments.
‘This idea that he is a representative of health and that someone who looks like me can’t give a health message about what to do in a pandemic is such nonsense,’ she said.
Standing up: She told Stellar that she did not hesitate slamming Evans after feeling fat shamed by his comments. ‘This idea that he is a representative of health and that someone who looks like me can’t give a health message about what to do in a pandemic is such nonsense,’ she said
Magda spoke defiantly about the trolling as a result of the ad on The Project following its release last month.
‘This has happened to me so many times before when you’re putting out a message that they don’t like, and I think that a lot of people have been quite shocked to discover that there are so many people who actually don’t believe that COVID is real.’
She also went on to challenge trolls, saying: ‘You know, they’re picking the wrong person with me, because they never met my mother. They are nothing compared to growing up with my mother,’ she joked.
Out now: More of Magda Szubanski’s story is featured in this week’s Stellar magazine in The Sunday Telegraph