Claire Crawford, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Kelsey Self Williams, an NBA cheerleader for the Oklahoma City Thunder, was the recent victim of a “fat attack,” brought on by CBS Houston blogger, Ms. Crawford (real name Anna Megan Raley). On Wednesday, Apr. 24, Crawford asked her blog readers if Williams was “too chunky” to cheer. Her remarks? “Williams has been criticized by some folks in Oklahoma for having ‘pudginess’ around her waistline. Is this chick ‘too chunky’ to be a cheerleader?”
Crawford then went on to comment that the Houston Rockets, who were playing the Thunder, “weren’t the only bad looking people on the court.” And as if that wasn’t enough, she conducted a poll in her article with three options: ‘She has the perfect look to be an NBA cheerleader,’ ‘She could use some tightening up in her midsection’ or ‘She has no business wearing that outfit in front of people.’
Gross. You are a female so start supporting your fellow females, not writing trash about them. And your half-assed redemption isn’t going to make up for the shit-storm you’ve created: “But if she’s comfortable wearing that tiny outfit and dancing for NBA fans, then good for her,” Crawford said. “Besides . . . not every man likes women to be toothpick skinny. I’d say most men prefer a little extra meat on her bones.”
Good grief. OK, yay for Crawford for trying to correct herself. But the damage was already done. Fortunately the article has since been taken down and Crawford’s Twitter, Linked In and MySpace accounts have also been taken down, but once this story hit social media outlets it blew up like crazy.
But the one person who isn’t outraged? Ms. Williams herself.
Williams recently Tweeted, “We wouldn’t know what blessings were if we didn’t go through trials. Thank you to EVERYONE for the compassion and love today. I’m in awe.” Nicely said.
I checked out pictures of Williams and to be honest, I think she’s gorgeous. OK, maybe the picture that was used in Crawford’s blog wasn’t the best picture of Williams in the fact that she is obviously in the middle of a dance move and the way her body is positioned may make her look “pudgier” than she really is. Whoo. We all have certain pictures that are shot from funky angles, etc. Who cares?? She is a cheerleader who is probably a size 4 who was photographed while dancing…IN A 2-PIECE. And she looks damn good doing it! I’m pretty sure that if she looked that terrible she wouldn’t be out on a court in a 2-piece, shakin’ what her mama gave her with a big grin on her face.
Seriously – there was no reason for Crawford to be so nasty. Unless Williams has been giving drugs to grade-schoolers, wearing stripper heels to baseball games (ladies, you know who you are and it is NOT OK) or not calling her Grandma on a regular basis, leave her alone. And seriously – this girl has her head on straight: college graduate, recently married, is the Fashion Editor and Co-Creative Director for Twenty Something Magazine, owner of a company called Elite Events by Kelsey, which does event planning, and oh yeah…in her spare time she is a cheerleader for a NBA basketball team. What a loser. Oh excuse me, a FAT loser. Riiigghhttt.
My point is that Williams seems like someone young girls can look up to in many different ways, one of them being confident about their bodies. And would we want to give young girls a negative message about their body image? No, we wouldn’t. In fact, no one – regardless of their age – should have a negative body image. It’s something we all have to work on every day but it’s worth it. So try to be like Kelsey Williams: don’t listen to the haters and love yourself.
