Political commentator Steven Crowder addressed an academic conference while posing undercover as a ‘fat pride activist,’ giving a talk about a paper he submitted to organizers called ‘Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump’ – a stunt which no one at the event seemed to recognize as a joke.
Indeed, rather than catch on to the bit, attendees met Crowder’s work with praise.
Crowder, who heads the political podcast and YouTube channel Louder With Crowder, posted his 2020 prank ‘Crowder infiltrates ‘fat Studies’ to his YouTube channel on Monday.
The 17-minute video is a dig at the ‘fat acceptance movement’ – a social movement that seeks to eliminate the stigma of obesity from social attitudes by highlighting the obstacles faced by fat people.
To carry out the prank, 34-year-old Crowder posed as the ‘independent scholar and fat pride activist’ Sea Matheson of Austin, Texas – an identity change complete with full make up, prosthetics and a fake belly so as to appear obese.
Crowder said he hoped the video would expose the ‘farce’ of fat studies as a discipline by infiltrating an annual academic conference dedicated to the topic at Massey University in New Zealand, where postgrads can submit their essays on the subject.
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For his prank Crowder poses as independent scholar and fat pride activist Sea Matheson of Austin, Texas, complete with full make up and prosthetics
Crowder, posing as Matheson, introduced themselves as non-binary and obese and whose past activism includes helping organize the Women’s March
As his alter-ego, Crowder submitted a paper titled: ‘Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump’ which was accepted – an honor that brought with it an invitation to speak at the conference virtually.
Crowder introduced themselves as non-binary and obese and whose past activism includes helping organize the Women’s March, March For Our Lives and The Global Climate Strikes in Austin.
‘Because of our current leader’s bigotry: fatness I will argue, acts as a distancing mechanism from the President, as well as his supporters, producing both physical and ideological space that can insulate the individual from intolerant, bigoted, or violent ideology,’ Crowder began his virtual address.
Matheson claimed that she was fat as a form of ‘self care’ and provided a fake backstory of being ‘fondled sexually’ as a child which lead to weight gain
Crowder’s prank sought to expose the ‘farce’ of the fat studies discipline by infiltrating the annual fat studies academic conference at Massey University
Massey submitted a paper titled: ‘Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump’ which was accepted and he was invited to speak at the conference virtually.
Before continuing Crowder offered a ‘content warning’ for fatphobia.
‘It’s widely acknowledged of course that the 2016 election of President Donald Trump was evident of America’s (some would argue) underlying racist, xenophobic, homophobic and transphobic attitudes. I would argue that it was always there, not so underlying. It just took 2016 for more people to realize it,’ he said as Matheson.
Crowder as Matheson went on to argue that then President Trump’s fatphobia was not focused on enough, and mentions Trump calling North Korea leader Kim Jong-un ‘fat and short’ as an example of how fatphobia affected his foreign policy and criticized then presidential candidate Joe Biden for calling an attendee fat at a campaign stop and challenging him to do push ups.
Continuing the bit, Crowder as Matheson claimed that she was fat as a form of ‘self care’ and provided a fake backstory of being ‘fondled sexually’ as a child which lead to weight gain.
She says that because she was fat she could no longer be sexually assaulted because it would be ‘harder’ for someone to touch her genitalia.
‘Embracing a fat identity, ensuring one is always already perceived as a fat individual, these actions become performative acts of resistance,’ Matheson proclaims.
After wrapping up his presentation, Crowder says he was certain it would not be taken seriously because nothing he said was backed up by any scientific literature or data. Instead, it was met with praise.
‘You did a great job presenting Trump’s fatphobia, and how fatphobia has been promoted by both his supporters and his detractors,’ one person commented while another wrote: ‘Embracing fatness is an act of resistance and can be part of how we fight against rape culture.’
‘Crazy ideas like gender fluidity, endless pronouns, fat pride, they were all created the same way and became ingrained into our authoritative sources,’ Crowder warned towards the end of his video. ‘This isn’t anything new, the insanity of higher education has been influencing culture for decades.’
He ends his video saying that promoting these unverified ideas is harmful and can lead to the deaths of obese people.
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