Victoria Beckham Considering Legal Action Against a Restaurant that Body-Shamed Her
Jason Pham
Victoria Beckham will perhaps take legal action against a restaurant that defamed and body-shamed her for her weight, according to her rep. The 43-year-old fashion designer’s outrage came after discovering an ad for the restaurant’s pizzas, which depicted her as extremely thin and accused her of having an eating disorder.
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The ad, which came from a restaurant named Sidhu Golden Fish and Chips in Tyneside, England, features Beckham as a rail-thin caricature, whose bones and rib cage are poking out while wearing a black bikini and a sash that reads, “Anorexic Fashion Icon.” The poster appears to advertise a new thin-crust pizza named after the former Spice Girl. The ad also includes phrases like “This is not thin!” (referring to Beckham) and “This is thin!” (referencing the pizza) to suggest that the new crust is even thinner than the singer.
Shortly after the ad went viral, a representative for the mom of four slammed the restaurant for defaming Beckham and making light of a serious eating disorder.
“It is highly inappropriate to trivialize such a disorder, and defamatory to be so thoughtless with a person’s reputation in this way, therefore we are seeking legal advice,” a representative told Fox News.
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The restaurant’s owner, Soni Sodi, defends that the poster is simply a joke. In an interview with iTV, Sodi said he was “genuinely horrified if anyone was genuinely offended.” He argued that the ad was “offered as a fun way to make people smile, and to escape from the daily hustle and bustle of life.”
While Sodi noted that seriousness of eating disorders, he also has no plans to take down the ad. “If, in 2017 Britain, we are asked to take down this advert it will be a sad day for freedom of expression,” he said.
Sounds like a non-apology to us. Regardless of what the restaurant’s intentions were, eating disorders are serious illnesses and poking fun at them, even as a joke, can be extremely harmful. Good on Beckham for speaking out.
