Karl Lagerfeld Gets Sued for Saying Dumb Crap About Fat People

Fashion’s most unrepentant asshole Karl Lagerfeld has been doddering around making vile, fat-phobic and misogynistic comments for years now. Engaging in nasty body-shaming is kind of Lagerfeld’s thing, along with worshipping a stolen cat, wearing a ponytail and creating edgy black tailored things. For the most part, the public’s response to the former has ranged from “Oh, Karl! You’re so bad!!” to vocal disgust. And now a French organization that advocates for the rights of plus-sized women is taking legal action against the designer.

The organization, which is called ‘Belle, Ronde, Sexy et je m’assume’ (Beautiful, Round, Sexy and Okay With It) has filed a complaint at the prosector’s office in Charente-Maritime region of south-western France, accusing Lagerfeld of “defamatory and discriminatory comments,” according to its president Betty Aubriere.

This comes after Lagerfeld appeared on an episode of ‘Le Grand 8’ in early October and proclaimed that “the hole in social security, it’s also [due to] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat” — which is beyond ironic coming from someone who guzzles Diet Coke like it’s water drawn from the freshest of all mountain streams. Having trotted out his favorite hobby horse (you know, the “I hate fat people” one), Lagerfeld took the televised appearance as an opportunity to repeat his favorite mantra, “Nobody wants to see round women on the catwalk.”

Says Aubriere, “We’re fed up. Many young girls are insecure and hearing such comments is terrible for them. Today it’s him who insults us and tomorrow who will it be?” Her advocacy doesn’t stop with Lagerfeld: she’s also called for a law to deal with discrimination against plus-sized people, as well as an awareness campaign in schools so that people recognize that “curves are often an illness or genetic, and not due to a poor diet,” as she puts it.

In closing, let me just definitively state that there are plenty of people who would love to see plus-sized women on the catwalk. Furthermore, there’s a huge market for plus-sized designs — something Chanel itself has catered to (but not acknowledged!) in the past.

“Karl Lagerfeld Sued for Comment About Curvy Women On Catwalks” [Business Insider]
“Curvy French Women Sue Lagerfeld Over ‘Fat’ Slurs” [The Local]
Image via Getty.