A Marie Claire blogger created a storm earlier this week when she slammed CBS’ new hit comedy “Mike & Molly,” about a romance between a plus-sized couple. Now, the creator of the show is hitting back.
Creator Mark Roberts told The Hollywood Reporter that he considered Maura Kelly’s blog, titled “Should “Fatties” Get a Room? (Even on TV?),” “hateful.”
“My initial reaction is she’s talking about [Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy] and I love them,” Roberts told the trade mag. “I feel protective and angry about people being loose-lipped. I guess hateful is the only way to describe [the post].”
In Kelly’s blog, posted on Monday, she wrote, “No one who is as fat as Mike and Molly can be healthy,” and said she would find it disturbing to watch plus-sized people engaged in PDAs
“I think I’d be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other … because I’d be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room — just like I’d find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair.”
Roberts said that as someone who has had their own issues with weight, he couldn’t help but be upset by the blogger’s comments about his show, CBS’ second highest rated comedy.
“I struggled with weight all my life, and I don’t know how to address this without being angry with somebody else’s stupidity about other human beings,” he told THR.
He added that he doesn’t mind criticism of the show itself, but felt Kelly’s blog got too personal.
“If you don’t like the show’s writing or acting, OK. This was just about human beings. It’s her face she has to look at in the mirror,” he said. “I don’t mean that to sound hateful,”
On Wednesday, Marie Claire Editor in Chief Joanna Coles tried to put Kelly’s blog in context, by telling Fashionista’s website that the blogger has struggled with weight issues herself.
“Maura Kelly is a very provocative blogger,” she told the website. “She was an anorexic herself and this is a subject she feels very strongly about.”
The EIC added that Marie Claire has received more than 28,000 e-mails about Kelly’s blog.
Additionally, Kelly later addressed some of the criticism, updating her “Mike & Molly” blog with an apology.
“I would really like to apologize for the insensitive things I’ve said in this post. Believe it or not, I never wanted anyone to feel bullied or ashamed after reading this, and I sorely regret that it upset people so much,” Kelly wrote. “A lot of what I said was unnecessary. It wasn’t productive, either.
“I know a lot of people truly struggle to lose weight — for medical and psychological reasons — and that many people have an incredibly difficult time getting to a healthy size. I feel for those people and I’m truly sorry I added to the unhappiness and pain they feel with my post,” she concluded.
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