Union left red faced over ‘fat-shaming’ tweet

The Student’s Union has been forced to back-peddle after a “fat-shaming” tweet received complaints.

The tweet, which was trying to convince freshers to sign up to the Sportspark, has been slammed as “body shaming” and “preying on fresher’s fears”.

The puntastic tweet, which has since been removed, asked freshers “why weight?” to join the sportspark.

But students and Union officers alike condemned the tweet for linking exercise to weight.

https://twitter.com/_rachelknott/status/642012094515269633

.@UnionUEA @SportsparkUEA why u making encouraging ppl to exercise about weight tho

— Jess (@jessclubparty) September 10, 2015

Jo Swo, UEASU’s Welfare, Community and Diversity Officer, tweeted that “ppl [sic] should not be shamed for exercise” and promised to “deal with it”.

She later added: “I have zero patience for fat-shaming behaviour, exercise should be encouraged as part of a healthy lifestyle and mental wellbeing, not something you should be shamed into.”

The Union apologised for their body-shaming behaviour, claiming they had simply made a mistake.

Most Read

I went on a night out with Bonnie Blue – it was uncomfortable and she’s dead behind the eyes

Bonnie Blue’s video birthday messages to 16-year-olds are the final nail in the coffin

Meet OnlyFans’ gay ‘golden boy’ Ashton, and the thirsty clip that’s earned him 33 MILLION views

However, later in the evening they were forced to apologise for their apology after it was deemed unacceptable and “not serious”.

Liam McCafferty, the Postgraduate Education Officer who signed off on the apology tweet, said: “I signed off on the tweet, I totally didn’t realise that the tone might be problematic. We’ve asked for a follow-up tweet that hopefully helps clear things up. Sorry for screwing up”

In the follow-up tweet, the Union again apologised for the original offensive tweet and claimed that they “try to communicate to reflect our wonderful student members”

Despite the Twitter storm, some were left wondering what all the fuss was about.

One student tweeted: “Who is actually uncomfortable with the idea of linking weight loss and a gym?”

Another said: “A lot of students get to university and are not used to cooking for themselves, do gain weight and want to lose some.

“There’s nothing wrong with weighing more and they haven’t said that, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight either.

“Someone was probably more pleased with their pun rather than how people could interpret it”