Photo by Perry Smylie/REX
Fox News host Chris Wallace has apologized for fat-shaming singer Kelly Clarkson.
On Friday, the 67 year-old apologized to People Magazine, saying that he admires her talent. Check out the video to hear exactly what he said!
Wallace made his regrettable comments on a radio appearance on The Mike Gallagher Show last week, when Gallagher began by saying, “Listen, don’t fat shame me. You do a lot of fat shaming. That’s the new phrase now, ‘fat shaming.’ Have you seen Kelly Clarkson? You know the singer, Kelly Clarkson? Holy cow, did she blow up.”
“Really? Do we want to talk about some of your friends?” he said. He later added, “Kelly Clarkson’s got a lovely voice.” But he also jumped on the fat-shaming bandwagon, saying, “She could stay off the deep dish pizza for a little while.”
Kelly, for her part, takes the whole thing in stride. In a recent appearance on Ellen Degeneres’ talk show, she said of weight criticism: “I love how people think that’s new — like, ‘Welcome to the past 13 years.'” She explained that she’s always gotten weight criticism, ever since she appeared on American Idol.
Her biggest fear is that fans who weigh more than she does will feel even worse about their bodies. “I think what hurts my feelings for people is that I’ll have a meet-and-greet after the show and a girl who’s, like, bigger than me will be in the meet-and-greet and be like, ‘Wow, if they think you’re big, I must be so fat to them.'”