Donald Trump is re-igniting a national conversation about fat shaming after his recent comments about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and former TV personality Rosie O’Donnell.
Johanna Kendel, founder and CEO of the Alliance of Eating Disorder Awareness told Inside Edition his comments are offensive on so many levels.
“His comment made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. As someone who struggled for more than 10 years with various eating disorders, it brought back up this idea that we all have to look a certain way,” she said.
Earlier in the week, Trump told Fox News that Machado had “gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem” during her reign asMiss Universe after she won in 1996.
Nearly 2/3 of Americans are struggling with weight and experts say fat shaming is the last bastion of acceptable discrimination.
Dr. Adrienne Youdim told Inside Edition: “Somehow as a society we allowed ourselves to shame an obese individual for being obese. It goes without saying it is completely unacceptable.”
Fox News’ Megyn Kelly has said he is alienating voters by picking on overweight Americans and women.
During the debate, Trump also wouldn’t back down on his feud with Rosie O’Donnell, and in the past has mocked her over her size.
There was a moment during the debate when he described what a computer hacker might look like.
“They could be someone who is sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” he said.
No one appears safe from Trump cracks, including Kim Kardashian.
In 2013, he discussed her pregnancy on Showbiz Tonight: “I have noticed she is a little bit large. I will say this, I don’t think you should dress like you are 120 pounds.”
He’s even taken at jab at his ally New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Read: Trump Says He ‘Saved’ Job of Ex-Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Whom He Once Called ‘Miss Piggy’
“You’re not eating Oreos anymore. No more Oreos,” he said at an event earlier in the year where he denounced the cookie and Christie’s enjoyment of the snack.
