Kelly Clarkson Mocked About Weight by Fox News' Chris Wallace and Radio Host, Colleague Calls for Apology

The two discussed the singer's weight on The Mike Gallagher Show

By Corinne Heller Apr 04, 2015 5:44 PMTags
Kelly Clarkson, Chris Wallace, Mike GallagherGetty Images

UPDATE: Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace and radio host Mike Gallagher have issued statements following the backlash over their comments about Kelly Clarkson. Find out what they said.

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Can we stop with the body shaming of Kelly Clarkson?

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and radio host Mike Gallagher recently mocked the 32-year-old pop star over her weight, in comments made on the latter's syndicated show.

Clarkson, who gave birth to her first child more than nine months ago and who has often been criticized over her figure, has not responded to them. Meanwhile, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren has come to her defense.

"Listen, don't fat shame me. You do a lot of fat shaming. That's the new phrase now. 'Fat shaming,'" Gallagher, 54, who also serves as a Fox News contributor, told Wallace, 67, on The Mike Gallagher Show on Friday, as heard in an audio file posted on Media Matters. "Have you seen Kelly Clarkson? You know the singer, Kelly Clarkson? Holy cow, did she blow up."

"Really? Do we want to talk about some of your friends?" he replied.

"Well, look at me. I got some weight issues," Gallagher said. "I could take a little bit of weight off."

The two offered compliments—Wallace said Clarkson has a "lovely voice" and Gallagher said he loves her singing—before delving back into the nastiness.

"She could stay off the deep dish pizza for a little while," Wallace said.

"Well, she had a baby, but man," Gallagher added.

Clarkson has not responded to their remarks. Van Susteren, 60, posted on her website an excerpt of the interview, saying, "Chris Wallace owes Kelly Clarkson an apology" and "This 'guy snickering' about her weight is obnoxious." Several people echoed her request in comments made on the Facebook page of the host's show Fox News Sunday.

Clarkson had earlier this month responded to negative comments made publicly about her weight by other celebrity, British TV personality Katie Hopkins, who had for months publicly shamed her for not being thinner and had even criticized her baby daughter, River Rose Blackstock. She talked about the woman again on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday.

"I think what hurts my feelings for people is when I'll have a meet and greet after the show and a girl whose, like, bigger than me will be in the meet and greet and be like, 'Oh, God!'" Clarkson said. "And they'll say, 'If they think you're big I must be so fat to them.'"

"It's like, you just are who you are. We are who we are—whatever size," she said. "It doesn't mean that we're gonna be that forever."