Once upon a time, in a land known as Twitterville, there was an actor named Boris Kodjoe…
Boris Kodjoe caused a stir on Twitter after challenging obese Black women to step up their game and slim down. The actor got into a bit of trouble over the weekend after telling his 77,700+ followers about a bad dream, tweeting, “Like a baby. Had nightmares though about 300 pound women in thongs gnawing on chicken wings while grinding on me. Scary.”
As soon as it went up on Twitter, he immediately faced criticism from some of his fans. But before the public really went in on him, Boris attempted to put the comments in perspective.
“I love ‘thickness’. And I love a woman who loves herself. And loving yourself is being healthy,” he explained, invoking his wife’s Twitter handle in the argument. “You all know @nicolearip and I are all about health. And we as a community have to be more conscious of our health. The numbers are shocking.”
One of the shockers he posted was that U.S. Department for Minority Health states that four out of five Black women are considered overweight or obese according to the standard Body-Mass Index. For reference, anything over 25 on the BMI scale is considered overweight, and anything over 30 is considered obese. Boris also tweeted that obesity related illnesses are the leading cause of death, and he wants his sisters to be in shape so they can stick around and be good examples for the next generation.
“It’s not about conforming to these ridiculous ‘skinny’ beauty standards in the media, it’s about being healthy so your kids can be healthy,” he stated, pegging poor diet and exercise habits as the main culprits. “No more excuses! High blood pressure and diabetes do not ‘run in your family’. Pork chops, mac n cheese, and tons of soda do! #stopitnow. High blood pressure and Type II diabetes are only 30% from genes and 70% from environmental input, aka bad diet and no exercise.”
Boris even offered some solutions for the aforementioned excuses people give for not getting off their butts to get in shape with the hashtag #FATEXCUSES.
“#FATEXCUSES ‘DON’T HAVE TIME TO EXCERCISE’ If u have time 2 watch ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ u hv time 2 do jumping-jacks n crunches,” he tweeted before suggesting a way to stay focused during a workout. “#FATEXCUSES ‘IT’S SO BORING’ Well, put your iPod on and do the [Dougie], work out with your man, or take a fun class.”
Next he went after the argument that being curvier is more attractive to men, but he explained that not all shapes are created equal, writing, “#FATEXCUSES ‘MEN LIKE THICK GIRLS’ There’s a difference between a healthy and sexy stacked goddess…” (easy Boris!) “…and an unhealthy obese one.”
Lastly, he attacked the eating habits that add to your waistline. In his opinion it’s okay to enjoy a chicken wing every now and then. Ten in one sitting, on the other hand, not so much. “#FATEXCUSES ‘I LIKE FRIED FOODS’ ok, portion control is key,” he tweeted, “U don’t have 2 b a vegan, just take it easy on 2 much fried and processed foods.”
The actor explained that he wasn’t picking on the big girls, but rather speaking to part of the problem that plagues the Black community. And before he signed off for the afternoon, he put all of those issues in perspective in relation to the relatively trivial matters that he thinks get more attention.
“I don’t have time to tweet about which club I got wasted in last night. We got things to do, family. Let’s inspire each other,” he said. “Our kids’ education sucks, our health is poor, our men are in jail, and we r broke, so let’s not talk about Rhianna’s hair color ok?” [source]
Don’t get me wrong – I appreciated some of what he tweeted.
…I just reeeeeeeeally would’ve loved it more if it didn’t start all because he was weaseling his way out of tweeting about his “nightmare” about “scary fat women with chicken wings…” ’cause that was ALL about health. Jeez.
Now, can he tweet about whether Undercovers is gonna be on DVD? I liked the showand all, but I’m just trying to get fashion tips from his co-star. She was the most styling-est chick I’ve seen in a long time.