Kelly Clarkson received an apology from Fox News anchor Chris Wallace after he body shamed her on talk radio.
The 67-year-old news anchor was on Mike Gallagher’s radio show on Friday and a discussion on pizza led to the two men poking fun at Clarkson’s weight.
At first, Gallagher jokingly called Wallace out about fat shaming. “Don’t fat shame me. You do a lot of fat shaming,” the radio host warned before inexplicably moving on to Clarkson.
“Have you seen Kelly Clarkson? You know the singer, Kelly Clarkson? Holy cow, did she blow up,” said Gallagher.
‘She could stay off the deep dish pizza’: Kelly Clarkson fat shamed again http://t.co/Svx0Rk3Aqq
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Wallace didn’t react at first and even mentioned that the first American Idol had a lovely singing voice, something that the radio host agreed with. But the veteran news anchor later came back to the topic and said “She could stay off the deep-dish pizza for a little while.”
The comments didn’t escape the ire of listeners, with a lot of them going on social media to criticize the fat shaming. Even Wallace’s Fox News colleague Greta Van Susteren denounced the comments and demanded that he apologize, which he did.
“I sincerely apologize to Kelly Clarkson for my offensive comment,” the Fox News Sunday host said in a statement. “I admire her remarkable talent and that should have been the focus of any discussion about her.”
Mike Gallagher also posted his own apology on his personal website. Mocking his own weight issues, the radio host posted that “Tubby Mike is the last person in the world who should bring up anyone’s weight” before adding “I couldn’t possibly feel any worse than I do for making an observation that led to the conclusion that I ‘fat-shamed’ this talented and classy entertainer.”
“It was a really stupid thing for me to do,” Gallagher confessed.
Clarkson hasn’t commented yet on the apology.