Plus-size model Shawntel confronts Christian, her former friend who posted a fat-shaming rant about her that got over 20 million views. After Karamo shuts down the exchange, Christian later apologizes, saying the confrontation forced him to face his own biases. Shawntel says it lifted a burden and gave voice to other plus-size women.
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Now we're gonna keep things rolling. Do you remember my past guests, Shawntel and Christian? Well, they both appeared on my body positivity show. Shawntel reached out for my help confronting her ex-friend Christian because she was fed up with his fat shaming rants on Facebook, which was a deal breaker that ended their friendship. Take a look at this. Ooh, hot girl summer.
No fat girl, you look stank. You worried about putting makeup on your face? You need to be worried about getting that fat off your body.
I saw that video. And the only words that came to my mind was disgusting. Why do you believe that women who are the size that Chantel is should be fat shamed?
It's almost like y'all want to join different movements instead of joining the gym. It's the truth.
But why is the obese crowd that you're attacking, why are we the issue?
Because you're unhealthy.
Just because you're small frame does not mean you're healthy.
There's some people right now that do agree with me. They're sitting beside someone that's probably an upright hog. And they don't really wanna say nothing. They don't wanna say nothing. They probably be like—
Hold on, hold on. You say upright what? Hog.
That's how you look.
If I called your daughter an upright hog, how would you feel?
She'd just be an upright hog.
No. It is what it is.
Absolutely not.
Sometimes you gotta embrace the truth.
Absolutely not.
For real.
No, I have a daughter. Why would I want anybody to speak over her like that?
Okay, so if this is body positivity, are you teaching the positivity to your daughter? Does that mean you give your daughter honey buns in the morning? Is that body positivity?
Just be fat?
I gotta be your friend. I gotta tell you the truth.
Body positivity is loving yourself where you are in life. If you do not like about yourself, about yourself, you should—
No, it's not.
Okay, well, I'm gonna cut this real quick. What I want y'all to know, and I want everyone at home to know this as well, no woman should ever have to debate a man over her body. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna cut this conversation right now. Thank you. That clip went viral with over 20 million views on social media. I know, right? And after the show, Christian reached out to my producer and he said, quote unquote, "I watched the show and I really listened to what Karamo was saying." And then he realized, and these are his words, that Karamo was right. Now listen. "He was just showing me the reflection of my true self," is what he said, which I appreciate him understanding. That's all I was trying to do. Christian is back today and officially has apologized to Shawntel for his fat shaming ways, which I love. Please welcome Christian and Shawntel back to the show. Hi guys. Well, Christian, I gotta, first of all, I couldn't say it that day because you came out here and you was acting a fool, but you look great. You do look good, brother. Chantel, it is good to see you. My supermodel sister.
Yes, thanks for having me.
Yes, you know, Chantel, you know after the show I fell in love with you and was posting you, trying to post you as much as I could with your little, with the Instagram and stuff. It was a big move. To bring Christian on the show and confront him about his behavior? What did it do for you and your life in that moment?
It kind of took a heavy weight of not only for myself, but for other plus-size women who weren't able to say that to people they have that issue with. So I think I wasn't only speaking for myself, I was speaking for other plus-size women who don't have the stance to say what they want to say. So not only was I speaking to Christian, and I'm glad it got through to him, I was speaking to everybody who has an issue with anybody who ask body positivity issues, whether it be small, whether it be big on, you know, any level. So yeah.
And what kind of responses have you received?
Oh, it was amazing. I've had women cry, you know, DMs. My DMs are still flooded with, you know, positive comments. Um, I've had different celebrities even share, you know, the story. So like you said, 20 million views, it went viral. Amazing. I felt good. I did feel bad for Christian because of the backlash that he did receive. I did, because nobody deserves that. But for him to understand that his wrongdoing in it and want to be better and change, that's the part that matters the most to me.
So Chantel, what did this experience teach you?
It taught me that my platform and what I do on social media means a lot to not only me, but other women who look like me. And even that outside of women who don't look like me, um, skinnier women who have body issues that you probably would never imagine. So just knowing that I'm on the right path to inspire so many women, not only women, men, people are being inspired by my story, people are being inspired what I stand for, and I love it. Thank you.
Um, So listen, Christian, I heard you were feeling some type of way about me after that show, which no shock, I did read you, okay?
Yeah, I'm gonna be honest with you, bro. After that show, I was upset initially, but I'm at this age now, I had to sit back and think. I said, you know what? When I look back at the clip, I said, I actually need to thank this gentleman 'cause he actually made me look at myself in the mirror and see certain things that I really didn't see and put things in perspective like I should have early on.
Well, I'm—
So I just— I want to thank you for that.
All right, Christian, is there something you'd like to say to Shantel before I let you go?
Yeah, Shantel, I love you. You're my friend. You've always been my friend. I love the skin that you're in. I want to support you at whatever stage that you're at.
Whatever the—
whatever stage the women that support you are at. Um, I, I, I do feel like you have opened some things up for me. Um, some— not— I mean, just made my perception a little different as it relates to how I view women, and particularly Black women, sisters. Um, because I, I was raised by a Black woman, I'm married to a Black woman. I don't ever want sisters or any woman to feel as though I'm disrespecting them. So I really want to apologize to you. I want our friendship back.
Shawntel, do you accept the apology?
I do. I'm always looking to move forward with everybody and he sounds genuine and I am willing to take the next step where we can come together and move forward and help more women.
Good job. Well, listen, I just love the growth. I love the growth. I love the growth. And this is what the Karamo Show is all about. We talking about breakthroughs, breakthroughs, breakthroughs. I got a really good feeling about this, y'all, and I know y'all are gonna be all right. Trust me, I know y'all gonna be all right.
We love you, Karamo. Thank you, bro. Thank you.
I'm so happy for you all. This is the progress I like to see. Hold on, where you going? I'll tell you where you're going. Right here to subscribe and right here to watch more.
