I Guess I'm Too Fat To Be A Wyclef Jean Fan
Thanks to Cate, we have been alerted to a performance by Wyclef Jean, captured on video. I can’t exactly make out what he’s saying at the beginning. He wants 30 of the something-est girls to come up on stage and shake their things. But then I guess he decides he only wants skinny girls. I hear him loud and clear when he says: “Please, if you weigh 200 pounds, don’t come up here.”
I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be a Wyclef Jean fan, in the audience, thrilled to be able to get up on stage and “shake your thing” with one of your favorite singers, and then being publicly called out by him for being too fat to get on stage. And having to climb back down… oh god. how awful. But then again, of course I can imagine perfectly well; stuff like this has happened to all of us on a small scale, right? If you read the comments of that post, you’ll read lots of delightful comments about the stage collapsing and all of the usual garbage. We’ve heard it all before.
I always wish I knew how to react to stuff like that, especially when I felt so bad about myself that being called “fat” felt like an insult. Really, though, I hope those women never spend another penny on Wyclef Jean–his CDs, his songs on iTunes, his concerts—he can suck it. I would hope even women who met the Wyclef Weight Limit would be appalled. At least there are some positive comments on that TMZ post, too. My favorite one is: “Where’s Sir Mix-A-Lot when you need him?” Amen, sister.
Posted by mo pie
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Thats really disappointing, I kind of like him. :(
I wont be $upporting him…. ever.
Wywho? Is this guy supposed to be famous or something?
And where IS sir mix-a lot when you need him? Seriously.
Wyclef Jean. American singer of Haitian descent, once a member of The Fugees. He sings in English and Creole.
And it does suck to hear about this kind of attitude. Meh. Double meh.
I have no idea who this guy is, but I think BFD needs to start a Big Fat Bigot Award for people like this … we can call them the Biggies for short! Nominations, please!
Wow…time to go through the iPod and kill any Wyclef songs.
Well, damn! He just specified 200 lbs. That means that anybody of any other weight is welcome. (tongue firmly in cheek)
The funny thing is, Sweet Machine and I knew a girl in college who had a one-nighter with Wyclef when he came through town, and she was at LEAST 200 lbs.
All talk, that guy.
I missed the comment about Sir Mix-alot, that’s pretty darned funny. I personally will never buy a Wyclef Jean album, even if it’s good, and I will erase the Fugees I have on my iPod. Half the time Wyclef Jean’s songs suck anyway.
Fillyjonk, that is awesome gossip. Ha!
Noooooooooooo! He’s the headliner for USF’s homecoming concert in a few weeks, which means that my student activity fee is paying him for the evening. I hate it when I’m forced to support people I would rather not support.
Never heard of him and from the sound of it, I’m not missing out on much.
I also really hated the way the audience erupted after he said that, too.
I wasn’t sure how to interpret the audience sound… it kind of sounded like an “oh no he did not just say that” to me. At least partly. I hope?
I was never a big fan of his comments like this makes it even worse.
Never liked him before this, and I guess I won’t be changing my mind anytime soon.
Never heard of him but shall make a mental note to forget him.
It’s articles like this that make me glad all over again that I’m an internet pirate. NO MONEY FOR YOU, JERKFACE!!! And now it’s time for me to dial up my music library and start deleting with abandon… though there’s not much of his stuff to delete, so it won’t be all THAT satisfying.
Come to think of it, this isn’t all that surprising, considering he was in a band with someone who said she never wants white people to buy her albums (Lauren Hill). No strangers to bigotry here…
ARRRR!!! Avast ye, landlubber! Wyclef an’ wench, it’s be time fer ye t’be walkin’ th’ plank!
In other words… go $#%@ yourself, you bigoted, nasty, greasy-haired, womanizing, egocentric, fakeass hater (sorry, had to put it in terms he could understand in case he dropped by).
*sigh* This makes me sad. I’m not a huge Wyclef fan, but I did like him in the Fugees and some of his solo stuff (I’m a much bigger fan of Lauryn Hill). I hate it whenever celebs that I like come out as anti-fat.
Douche much, Wyclef?! Ugh.
Sir Mix-a-Lot still sang the praises of a small waist.
I would be all like “I DON’T weigh 200 pounds, I weigh 230. I guess I can stay to shake my thing, then. Rock on!”
I love how people in the comments were trying to reason it out. WTF.
*Shakes her head*
Typical of celebrities. I would just stop buying his music. Period.
“I always wish I knew how to react to stuff like that”
You could write to his managers @
DAS Communications
83 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10024
and tell them you’ll tell all his current fans over 200 pounds (and/or those of us who don’t weigh 200 pounds but who certainly aren’t skinny) NOT to buy his records.
Or anything else he puts out.
You could also call your friends who work at AP-affiliated media outlets and tell them that you made said contact and why.
Since you’ve already done Fox and are an old hand at it, and all.
For that matter, you could call the producer that first got in contact with you at Fox and pitch them a story like “The Power of the Pound and the Power of the Dollar”.
Just some suggestions …
*strolls away whistling*
“Noooooooooooo! He’s the headliner for USF’s homecoming concert in a few weeks, which means that my student activity fee is paying him for the evening. I hate it when I’m forced to support people I would rather not support.”
You don’t have to support it. Boycott it. Write an op-ed piece for your school’s paper telling them why you’re doing it. Get in touch with the media outlets in the city where your university is located and give them the same op-eds.
Leaflet your campus with slogans like “DO YOU WANT THIS MAN HERE IF THIS IS WHAT HE THINKS OF YOU?”
Get a petition of supporters and take it to your Student Activities Office. There may be a cancellation clause in their contract with him that may be activated by language like that, and they won’t hesitate to use it if you provide them sufficient concrete evidence that by having him there they’re going to lose money.
“It’s articles like this that make me glad all over again that I’m an internet pirate.”
Um.
BMatthews, don’t be an internet pirate. Not nice. Think about if it was your music or your writing.
Plus, however difficult it sometimes is to enforce, it’s also a federal offense.
Wow, that’s just crazy. This makes me remember something I saw: I went to see Iggy Pop not too long ago and he pulled a girl up on stage to dance with – she was beautiful (of course) and pretty curvy.
Iggy Pop has contributed more to music, did much more revolutionary things and has influenced more people to pick up guitars and yell into a microphone than Wyclef Jean could ever hope to do.
I’ve met Iggy Pop, he is as salt of the earth as can be (given his life) and thank you for mentioning him in this thread. It so wonderfully washes the bad taste of Jean away.
I think people erupt after comments like that because its a way of cheering the sexism that keeps men entitled to affirm the not-so-great-anyway title of “fuckable” on women.
Wasn’t it Naomi Wolf who said that the ability to confer “beauty” onto women is the last bastion of male priviledge?
I hate the whole frat-boy ethos. Really, I do.
I strongly suspect he’ll be one of those people who doesn’t have the faintest idea what 200lbs even look like. But, yeah. Still a douche. And I hate his crappy music to boot.
*headdesk* What a load of tosh. That ass really had nerve to say that to an audience full of women who probably would have beaten the crap out of him if he was within their reach.
where does his flabby ass get off judging anyone else for their weight? if his attitude wasn’t already laughable i’d point you to the “interview” he gave on vh-1. what a bunch of rambling mushed up yammering – i fucking HATE inarticulate people who call themselves poets… every time he speaks i wince, so i’m not shocked that he would pull something as literary as that out of his stupid face. illiterate mango of a rastafarian fuckwad – how’s THAT for poetic, assface?
It bothers me to no end that someone would do such a thing. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by very talented artists who love big booties and well-rounded women. They sing about it, celebrate it, and practically drool over it. But I do realize these men and women are few and far between and most of the time, those of us who aren’t a size 2, we’re left standing around feeling as though we don’t belong.
Wyclef Jean can kiss my ample ass! I’ll stick with the fabulous Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz, Candye Kane, and others, thank you very much.
I’m always disgusted by the objectification of women in hip hop music. I’m not a huge Wyclef fan and this just completely turns me off from him.
Although, at least the cutoff was 200. It would have been even more apalling if he’d said “no one over 150 lbs”
how could it possibly be more appalling if the cutoff was lower?