Who Is Nicole Arbour? 7 Things To Know About The YouTube Comedian And Her Viral Fat-Shaming Video

YouTuber Nicole Arbour’s name suddenly started being mentioned a lot this weekend when one of her videos went viral. Her controversial video “Dear Fat People” was released on Saturday and immediately drew criticism. The Canadian claimed: “Fat-shaming is not a thing. Fat people made that up. That’s the race card with no race.” The 6-minute monologue goes on to explain that she wants to offend overweight viewers so much that they actually lose weight. Watch the video below, but be warned, it does contain strong lanugage.

So what should audiences know about the viral comedian?

1. She Isn’t New – Although “Dear Fat People” introduced many people to Arbour, her YouTube channel has been around for seven years. It seems she start uploading on a regular basis about two years ago.

2. Shorty Award Nominee – Fans voted to put Arbour in the category of Best Comedian at the 2015 Shorty Awards, which honors the best of social media. Arbour lost the title to actor Hannibal Buress.

3. Celebrity Responses – Arbour disabled comments on her video, but several established YouTubers have gone on their own channels to criticize “Dear Fat People.”

“I think most people with body image issues are pretty self aware deep down,” Grace Helbig said in a vlog. “So what you're really seeming to say is, ‘Stop being a human being. Stop having emotional issues. Stop. Just stop because it’s bothering me.’ It just becomes a little selfish and mean.”

Meghan Tonjes also responded with a tearful video. “I know what it’s like to sit there as a teenage girl and see something like that,” she said. “And it doesn’t have the affect that people like that assume it does.”

Whitney Way Thore of TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” also posted a video that has been viewed over 12 million times on Facebook, and several other vloggers have also taken time to voice their disdain.

4. She Has Supporters – Although there is a large and vocal group of people who don’t like the video, Arbour’s YouTube channel gained at least 30,000 subscribers over the weekend. Several fans have also tweeted their support.

5. YouTube Removed (And Restored) Her Channel – Critics thought they’d won when Arbour’s entire channel was taken down over the weekend, possibly due to people reporting the video. However, YouTube quickly reversed their decision and put her channel back online.

6. She Doesn’t Care About The Critics – Don’t expect an apology anytime soon. Arbour has made it clear that she doesn’t mind the criticism.

7. Musical Career – Arbour is using the newfound attention to further her career. She conveniently dropped her new single “Monstar” the day after “Dear Fat People” was posted.