Twitter Hails Reporter Demetria Obilor For Taking A Stand Against Body Shaming
ABC-affiliated television station, WFAA Channel 8 reporter, Demetria Obilor was criticized on Facebook by a news viewer on Wednesday who said that Obilor "looks ridiculous" in her clothes.
Jan Shedd shared an image of Obilor in a red dress on her Facebook account, criticizing the way she looked in it. The post has since been taken down but a screenshot of it was posted on Twitter by a user named Mother of Draggings, who wrote, "Jan is big mad. Don’t be like Jan."
"She's a 16/18 woman in a size 6 dress and looks ridiculous," the post said. The woman also said that she would stop watching the news channel.
Obilor, who previously worked as a traffic reporter for KLAS-TV in Las Vegas started working for WFAA Channel 8, two weeks ago. She spoke to NBC News and said that she became aware of the Facebook post on Friday when a Twitter user posted a screenshot of it on the social media network.
Obilor refused to be body shamed and hit back saying that she won’t be affected by body shaming.
"I'm not a 16/18, but even if I was, for you to try to call out my size like that to hurt me or discriminate against me, I'm not for that," she said.
She added, "When you get older and you’re in the news people warn you that, 'Hey, you're going to be under a harsh lens. People are going to critique you; people are going to say mean things about you.'" However, having been in the business for four years, Obilor says that she has developed a thick skin and doesn’t get hurt by such comments.
Obilor also shared a video on Friday addressing the "haters."
"This is the way that I'm built. This is the way I was born. I'm not going anywhere, so if you don't like it, you have your options," she said in the video.
The woman’s Facebook post sparked outrage on social media as Twitter users showed their support for Obilor and criticized Jan Shedd’s views.
Here are some reactions.
This is not the first time that Obilor was criticized for her appearance. Back in May 2017, she shared a screenshot of an email from a viewer who said her natural hairstyle must be hard to clean and must "smell bad."
Obilor, whose mother is white and father is Nigerian, said that people need to accept that times have changed and some styles and body types which were once rarely seen in the media are now being embraced. "Black people on TV; there’s nothing wrong with that," she said. "Naturally, curly hair — I don't care if a black woman wants to wear her hair straight or in braids, you don't get to say what's professional and what's not professional based on your white standard of beauty."
Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), also thanked Obilor for speaking out against body shaming.
Obilor told NBC News that it's time to set a new standard in society.
"It's not about my unhurt feelings," she said. "It's about what's acceptable in society and how we, as people in the media, we have to make things right,” she added.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.