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Goal Weight: Enough Already With the Fat Jokes, Even About Yourself
By Mary MacVean
Did you laugh at Chris Rock’s “GI Jane” joke? Did you find it mean or in poor taste because it made fun of Jada Pinkett’s Smith’s medical condition? What might you have thought if her husband, Will, hadn’t bounded up to the stage to hit Rock and “protect” a wife who seems quite capable of protecting herself?
Many, many people found the joke in bad taste, if not deserving of corporal punishment. But comedians, after all, are paid to make fun of our human condition. Like court jesters, they’re given license to say things that no one else can — at least, that’s what we tell ourselves.
Pinkett Smith has said she shaved her head because she has alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss. Her openness is admirable, though it doesn’t hurt that she’s gorgeous, with and without hair. On Oscar night she killed it in a dramatic green gown with a long ruffly train and eye-popping earrings.
We might also say that any number of women who don’t fit the ideal body type in another way — that they are not skinny — are gorgeous: Beyonce made that obvious with her Oscar broadcast opening number Be Alive.
So why are so few taking Oscar host Amy Schumer to task for her fat jokes at the ceremony? Yes, there are some outraged comments…