She Should Be Grateful...

In which this e-mail exchange will serve in lieu of an actual post.

elle: Lots about this article seems wrong, including the, "see? this fat black actress knows how to treat people"* at the end:

It's always a let-down when folks you've admired or respected from afar turn out to be jerks in person. Case in point: Gabourey Sidibe, the Oscar-nominated actress in the title role of "Precious."
(snip)

[A]fter meeting Sidibe at the White House Correspondents dinner and hearing about others' negative encounters with her, I'm putting down my pompoms.

I was thrilled to spot her at a table laughing uproariously with the man sitting to her right. "I know you're having a good time and I'm sorry to interrupt," I began. My next sentence didn't come out because Sidibe shouted over the din, "Yeah, come back in five minutes!" Thinking she was joking, I laughed and pretended to walk away. When I noticed that the look in her eyes meant she was serious, I walked back to her and said, "I just wanted to congratulate you on your nomination. I thought your performance was spectacular. I even wrote a column about it." After wishing her good luck, I rejoined my friends.

Back at the table, I sheepishly related the incident to my colleague Jo-Ann Armao. "Oh! She's horrible," Armao said in her wonderfully blunt way.

[Gabourey] Sidibe might be a “jerk” or she might be protective of her time and privacy or she might have been burned by the media, etc., but I wonder if part of his shock is that a fat woman has the nerve: 1) not to be flattered every time someone deigns to pay attention to her (you, know the, “you should be grateful that…”) and/or 2) to be assertive.

Liss: WTF?! Apart from the fact that Sidibe doesn't owe anyone ANYTHING, I fail utterly to see what was "mean" or rude or wevs about how Sidibe behaved. Some random dude interrupts her rollicking conversation and she doesn't immediately stop to pay attention to him, but tells him to come back? NOT RUDE. Some woman says her performance was incandescent in a fit of pretentious pique, and Sidibe isn't sure what that means and responds like most anyone would when they don't know what the hell someone is talking about? NOT RUDE. Refusing a picture on demand? NOT RUDE.

You totally hit the nail on the head: Her crime was failing to be GRATEFUL that Important People showed interest in a fat black woman. "Doesn't she know we don't show interest in fat people, or black people, or women, NO LESS ALL THREE?!"

The nerve of her!

elle: I'm going to label it "today in fat hatred," and note that the way his outrage is gendered and raced is astounding, as well.
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*I’m referring to the mention of Queen Latifah.