She should be fired purely because she’s a horrible writer. Reading her article I can actually see her twirling her bleach-blonde hair and hear her snapping her gum. I’m sure when she composed this article in her head she said “like” every other word.

She needs to be fired because she threw out an incredibly offensive and volatile opinion to a readership that is more than 80% women, of which 50% are under 35. While the US is busy trying to reduce the focus on unrealistic body image and help young girls avoid the eating disorders, Ms. Kelly played right into their hands. Is Ms. McCarthy overweight, yes. Is she obese, absolutely. No one needed to point that out. But when Ms. Kelly says she’s disgusted by that person’s existence, young impressionable readers begin to think that they are damaged if they are not matchstick thin. It’s a damaging message and Ms. Kelly needs to go.

I am overweight, and it is disgusting! There is nothing sexy about being unhealthy. We should all strive to have toned healthy bodies and try and teach the young girls/women in our lives to strive for healthy living. If we all tiptoe around this issue then we make it acceptable to be overweight or obese. When I talk to friends who are also overweight they always say “oh, you’re fine, who cares anyway? pass the chocolates” When really they (and I) should say “I know you aren’t happy about the way your body is, let’s go for a walk or something”. Good on her for calling a spade a spade.

Btw, I am writing this after going for an hour long walk with my one year old daughter. Yay me!

The apology isn’t sincere. Ms. Kelley claims that she never intended hurt or offense. Please, then, enlighten me as to how she expected obese people would feel upon learning that she is revolted by the mere sight of watching them walk. Ms. Kelley (and her editor) put that out there because they believe what they said, and they thought they could get away with it. They were wrong.

Furthermore, Cindy is quite right. If this is what is regarded as “starting a conversation” in the popular discourse, then perhaps Jerry Springer should be president.

Clay, I agree that the apology was not sincere. It was a pretty obvious attempt to garner some sympathy by offering up her own body and weight issues. As far as her “just being honest” (see reason #3)…people used to “just be honest” about their hatreds and judgments of minorities too. Those judgments were never based on the intrinsic worth of people just as Kelly’s comments are not. They are simply shallow.

I can’t believe you think this is her being honest and expressing an opinion.

When I get a job as a journalist I’m going to write in my first article about how much I hate black people and how disgusting they are to me. What’s the difference right? Aren’t I just being honest?

Fat people are fucking PEOPLE. Let me just go around talking on blast about how I hate what you already dislike about yourself.

I think the poor girl has some serious self-esteem issues and it was her way of making herself feel better about some of her own issues in her life. I also think it was an article that wasn’t necessary. I mean, she’s suggesting that fat people stand up at their computers to lose weight? That’s insane. And that maybe they’re not trying hard enough to lose weight. She has no idea what it’s like for fat people to lose weight. She has no idea what it’s like for a person to have to lose 5 pounds. She took the topic too far. I also think that remark about comparing an obese person walking across the room to a drunk or a heroin(e) (nice editors over there at Marie Claire) addict was a ridiculous comparison. If I saw a heroin addict during a binge, it would freak me out to no end. An obese person walking — that wouldn’t make me scared or freaked out. She’s got some underlying issues in her personal life that didn’t need to come out in her article. However you are right–this article did spark some serious controversy all over the internet and that is good. But Marie Claire is going to lose a lot of subscribers over this. I’m glad I wasn’t a subscriber in the first place.

fired. p.e.r.i.o.d.
or just quit because of lackluster in the writing department altogether.
I am sure she can not back track out of this.

I agree that this attack on people who are overweight is horrible. This woman is a writer who should be accountable along with the editor of this magazine for causing more pain to a person overweight. An apology isn’t enough! She is only sorry that she has made waves for her job and would even write again if no one called her out. Whatever happened to respect for your fellowman? We all live in this world and when we lose respect for others our world becomes toxic. Just place an apple with rotten spots in it inside a basket of good apples and watch how long it takes to spoil the whole basket of apples.

Not Fired, go on the view and apologize.

Not fired, she should apologize for this because this could cause some young girl
to hurt her self. she could just starve her self because she thinks she is fat people need to be very careful when it comes to this subject this is very serious no joke.

She should be fired. She is prejudice not only against over weight people but apparently she included individuals that have addictions such as alcohol and drugs in her blog. What’s next people of color, race or different religious preferences from hers.

If Maura Kelly had shown some sort of reasoning as to why she should homosexuality was a choice and then went on to state why that disgusted her, the would be no question as to whether or not she would be fired. Even if she was “just being honest.” Some people are “grossed out” by homosexual people kissing but just because that is their own issues with themselves does not give them the right to make comments about how other people live (choice or not).

Anyone who champions Maura Kelly and her offensive blog article about her disgust with “fatties” needs to get a clue. Her writing style is excruciatingly self serving and banal. Her readers are most decidedly as self absorbed as she seems to be. In a past blog she dismisses a “portly” man for blocking her from an attractive guy who was “eying” her. After showing pictures of his dog on his cell phone I am sure this “portly” gentleman was looking for the same thing she was…a chance to meet someone nice and hit it off. Kudos to him for taking the chance to chat with her and her friend, even though Ms. Kelly had already dismissed him in her mind. I hope she enjoyed the Heineken the sexy guy gave her while he was leaving. 5 reasons? Gimmeabreak! I can give you 5 quadrillion reasons why the article should never have been posted, but will leave you with just one.

It was hateful…

Her initial blog was all about aesthetics; the health stuff was thrown in as concern trolling. Is she revolted to see people smoking? Can hardly watch someone with high blood pressure walk across the room? NO. It’s all aesthetics. Yes, obesity is a health issue, but the show MIKE AND MOLLY isn’t glamorizing it (as underweight models do glamorize anorexia), it simply shows people with that issue living their lives. Next up, an article by a pretty girl gagging over all the uglies she has to see walking across the room…

interesting post. we are debating this very subject on the BBC World Service radio today. Keen to have a chat with you about this. Please pop me an email with a contact number if you’d like to discuss further. thank you

Juan Williams expresses an honest opinion, in a self-deprecating and apologetic manner, and NPR fires him. Joy Behar calls a woman a bitch on national tv – fired? no. Ms. California expresses an honest opinion regarding gay marriage, and her title is taken from her. Maura Kelly calls overweight people “disgusting” and likens them to drug addicts – fired? not likely. Do you see the parallels here?? The media will support what it WANTS to support, and will suppress what it WANTS to suppress. Freedom of speech is skewed on a constant and daily basis.
I am overweight. Ms. Kelly’s article disgusts me on many levels. However, it is her editor who should be fired, and not her. She was asked to express an opinion in writing a blog. She is obviously a vacuous, brainless twit, with no tact whatsoever. So, in that, she is as guilty as 80% of the populace in this country. However, she has an opinion, and she is entitled to it. It is up to her editor to tweak that opinion so that it does not intentionally offend the public, and most importantly, the readers of Marie Claire. If I were that editor’s boss, his or her head would be on a platter on my desk for alienating a LOT of Marie Claire’s readers.
That being said, obesity is an epidemic. For some, it is unstoppable due to emotional, physical and medical issues. For the rest, it is a matter of willpower, and hard work. I have been thin, I have been fat. It has always been my choice, and now that I am older, yes it is harder to lose weight. I don’t worry about that. What I worry about, or am concerned with rather, is that I maintain my ability to see people for who they are, and not for what they look like. I thank God every day that I have the intelligence to do that. I feel badly for Ms. Kelly since she obviously lacks that intelligence. I would not want to be her, moving forward in life. Fat can be lost, but brain power, class and decorum cannot be bought or acquired. too bad for her…

The following is a comment I am posting everywhere I find commentary on this issue, especially Marie Claire- and it addresses many issues, not just the obesity cover-up that seems to be needed in the media; The real shame is when someone responds honestly to a question and instead of being asked to expound, they are instead Pounded into submission by a spineless editorial leadership. Ms. Kelly expressed what everyone feels and was brave enough and honest enough to innocently express it. It’s a crying shame indeed that when this happens a woman is not lauded for her frankness but instead is run asunder by the needing to be politically correct and thus giving misogynists even more reason to say the glass ceiling is there for a reason. Do you all know the damage you have done for sparing the feelings of people whose time has long seen past for this kind of tough love help? America is overweight. Plain and simple. It’s a problem in part because it’s not addressed honestly, and an environment and market is made wide open for the deception of consumers desperately seeking solutions. Part of the solution is to be honest about what feelings obesity create in the general public. Speaking from experience, when one is made aware, clearly and without compromise the gravity of ones situation, that is when change begins to happen. No watered down apology or endless health news reports will do what the cold hard truth does. I think Marie Claire should reconsider their position and do their job in GUIDING the communication they are generously providing to their consumers rather than cowering and kowtowing to what they fear by mere presumption will be a backlash they cannot come out on top of. Today could have been a day where Marie Claire was heralded albeit controversially, for providing the truth in publishing, drawing more attention and readers than this scared little position they are taking. I feel sorry for women, having this type of representation. My respect goes out to Maura Kelly, and a slap on the wrist, but with understanding still, since we all have to pay the bills and are in the position where we cannot help but do as we are asked at times. The real shame as I’ve said twice already- is that she doesn’t work for editors with more spine- and that there seems to be a swarm of fellow women eager to take bites out of her like a veritable feeding frenzy instead of rallying to support her, when all of you know you think the same thing- or you would all allow yourselves to get in the shape of those Ms. Kelly justifiably criticized.

Grace: To be fair, if fat people disgust you, a fashion rag is probably the best place to work.

If we follow the age old rule that blacks can make black jokes, jews can tell jewish jokes, etc… Then Mauara Kelly criticizing others for being unattractive is not an issue.

She SO needs to get fired. She obviously has no idea excatly how hard it is to lose weight. She has a funny-looking chin… maybe I get offended when she walks across the room with that? How dare she judge other people. And the apology? Hello? She wrote it clearly to keep her job. That apology does not make it go away what she wrote and meant. What a bad person she is

Let us see a photo of Maura so we can judge her looks. I am now boycotting the season finale of Project Runway because Marie Claire is a sponser. The only people our society accepts being bullied are fat people, everyone else we stand up and support. Well, I am gonna support them…

the backlash is insane. she’s right – being fat is disgusting and unhealthy – i’ve lost 50 pounds and feel so much better energy-wise and feel better about myself. let her be.

Regarding number 1, there’s a certain privilege to being thin even when you approach being too thin. No such privilege is associated with being overweight so let’s not try to associate this with articles about people who are thin, okay? It’s not even remotely the same.

Put any other group of people in her article and this would be totally unacceptable whether it got people talking about it or not. Yet, there seems to be some sort of weird acceptance online when it comes to shaming people who are overweight.

I’m sorry but she should be fired. Actually, no. I’m not sorry. I’m so tired of seeing this kind of thing.

I agree with you. I think that her post was extremely offensive but I also feel that amount of attention and hate directed towards Maura herself is absolutely ridiculous. The blog is an opinion based forum of that of it’s writers. It may be her own personal opinion but because it’s a national magazine, it also reflects the magazine’s image. Maura is receiving majority of the abuse after this post because she was the author. What people don’t realize is that she didn’t just hit submit after she was done writing it. Not only was the story pitched before it was even written but her web editors would have had to read and approve the article as well. I definitely think she was in the wrong with her post, but every person who is ridiculing her and calling her names is bringing themselves down to her level. Mean is mean. It doesn’t matter who is mean first. People are saying she should be fired. I think it would be absolutely ridiculous for her to lose her job over a piece that Marie Claire approved before it was even published. That’s the point of having an editor. If anything, the controversy is just bringing more web traffic to her blog.

As someone who has worked for a national women’s magazine I just wanted to point out that Maura isn’t the only person that is at fault with the article. There is a whole staff behind it. I thought the article was poorly researched, written ( who doesn’t even watch a show before they write about it?) and completely insensitive, but we also have to look at the demographic and target audience of the forum. She is human and humans make mistakes. People in journalism make these mistakes all the time and their reputations suffer for it. She won’t be looked at in the industry as a credible writer for a long, long time. The problem I have with everything though is the hypocrisy that has come out because of her post. I think she should be professionally punished but with all the criticism and remarks made about her personally is ridiculous. Making remarks about physical appearance whether it’s about being too thin or too fat is wrong. So all of the readers who are in the uproar over her “hatred for obesity” and are in turn remarking on her physical appearance and eating disorder by calling her names is absurd. The magazine may get a slap on the wrist with a few dropped subscriptions and readership loss but everyone is pointing the blame to the author when it is Marie Claire’s fault as a whole. This kind of thing is what gives women magazines such a bad rep.

I completely agree with you. Can you imagine the anguish this girl is going through right now? NO, she shouldn’t have written those things. NO, the post wasn’t – as she admitted – well thought-out. I am willing to bet she had an hour left before deadline, had to write something in a hurry, was trying to be funny and provocative, and the result was, as we know, not at all what she intended.

I understand why people are calling for her head. Many are justifiably hurt, and they have every reason to be – especially if they don’t read the post in full, and all they see are those lines, taken out of context to up the incendiary factor.

However. She is a human. This is wrecking her life right now. She’s paid dearly for this mistake already. Adding insult to injury by taking away her job/income may feel good in the moment, but will only make the haters (who I suspect will calm down after the sting has worn off) feel like s*t in the long run.

Taking away her job? Please. Guaranteed she’s been bawling her eyes out for the past few days straight. Go ahead – say you’re glad – but are you really?

She should be fired. And this “article” offers no legit reason why not. If she attacked any other group of people she would be gone! Marie Claire will never get a dime from me for the hatred they are supporting by keeping this Kelly person on. I’m not overweight but what she said was really disgusting, like she has any right to talk. She’s no beauty either.

I have a question for this whoever she is Maura Kelly is she discussed by anorexic people also? That would be the opposite of the obese she thinks is discussing she does need to be let go other people were fired for less offensive comments then she had. If she is so discussed she needs to go live in the woods alone with the animals not in a diverse society.

What a loser! Didn’t your parents teach you any manners Maura?

For all those saying she should be fired: you cannot be fired for an opinion, period. Have people been fired for an opinion in the past? Yes, and I think it’s b.s. There is such a thing as free speech and none of you would even be able to comment here if it didn’t exist. The hypocrisy and lack of logic in these comments is stunning. And no, it is not comparable to racism, nor is it a hate crime. Because guess what? None of this is personal. I did a search for the phrase “I hate short people” on google and found lots of articles about a short-person bias. Hell, someone even wrote a well-known song about it. I’m 5’2″ but guess what? I DON’T CARE! And my height is not even something I can change. Weight, to a large degree, is changeable. Oh, and to those of you carrying on about young girls killing themselves? If they were that unstable that an article pushed them over the edge, then I’d say they needed serious help.

She shouldn’t be fired yet…she should be required to spend some time with eating disorder professionals and people at Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty”…then issue a sincere mea culpa (her current “it’s not my fault – I’m bulimic” one is almost as bad as the article)…I can live with that…

However – the editor(s) that allowed this to be published should be fired…that was an inexcusable journalistic mistake…

I think Maura Kelly should be fired because of the harm she did to Marie Claire magazine and to its’ readers. She destroyed any respect I had for the magazine. I know I’ll never buy another issue again. I agree with reasons 1 and 2, but disagree with the rest. I’m sorry, but I don’t feel her apology was sincere. She’s just sorry because she is probably feeling pressure from her bosses to apologise. It’s so sad that there’s alot of people out there in this world that is still so prejudiced against overweight people. Maura Kelly certainly is a wake-up call for people to educate other people about prejudice against people that are not thin.

Two words:
Sensitivity.Training.
Two more:
Grow.Up.
Final two:
You’re.Fired.

Yes, she should be fired. In MK’s blog post, she asked us to tell her if she was “an insensitive jerk.” Thousands wrote back to say Yes, you are an insensitive jerk.

Maura Kelly absolutely has the right to free speech. I support her right to say anything she wants and blog extensively about her feelings on everything under the sun. However, it’s also appropriate for people who read Marie Claire to say, “I’m not interested in this person’s point of view. Hire someone else. I don’t want to read a bunch of hate-mongering.”

This isn’t a pc backlash. This is a lot of people saying, your attitude is abhorrent. Let me read someone else.

As far as the apology goes: it wasn’t coherent. “Sincere” doesn’t even make it onto the table. What does anorexia have to do with hating fat people? And how can someone who talks about watching fat people “do anything” (including walking across the room) say she never intended to make anyone feel bullied or ashamed? Read her post. She clearly said she is disgusted by seeing fat people DO ANYTHING. Why would anyone want to read this woman’s thoughts on anything again?