Empire/FoxGabourey Sidibe is a plus sized actress who has an exemplary amount of body confidence. A confidence she has had to call upon once more in response to internet trolls obsessed with fat shaming her.
The 32-year-old endured a stream of abuse online after a sex scene she appeared in for the hit show Empire aired last week.
Gabourey’s character Becky Williams was seen having a rooftop romp with MC J Poppa, played by Mo McRae, and some web users decided to air their apparent offense at the notion of a plus size woman having sex.
Harsh memes were created, simple one word insults such as “yuck”, and one user even suggested the show was alienating its audience, posting “Now they’ve gone too far”.
theshaderoominc/InstagramSidibe didn’t lose her cool though, and posted the following to her blog:
I had the most fun ever filming that scene even though I was nervous. But I felt sexy and beautiful and I felt like I was doing a good job.
I’m very proud of the work we all did to make that scene a great opening for the episode. I keep hearing that people are ‘hating’ on it.
I’m not sure how anyone could hate on love but that’s okay. You may have your memes.
Honestly, I’m at work too busy to check Twitter anyway. #Booked. Hope you enjoy next week’s show!”
She has got a strong track record for coping with idiots online.
“@davidandenpi: @GabbySidibe this tweet needed to be framed…. pic.twitter.com/3zOCuGviou” Word!
— Gabourey Sidibe (@GabbySidibe) January 18, 2014
At least she is well aware of the life she gets to enjoy now, and being plus size hasn’t hurt her career to this point. Why let people get to her now?
