Jennifer Livingston of WKBT-TV (CSB affiliate) in LaCrosse, Wisc. recently received an e-mail from a viewer who called her out by saying she’s “overweight and obese” and that she should reconsider her physical responsibility as a public personality. He backed his harmful comments up by saying she’s not setting a good example to children when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle.
Instead of taking these harsh comments in the worst way possible and beating herself up over it, the morning show host fought back against the viewer on public television. “The truth is, I am overweight,” she admitted in a candid and honest segment. “You can call me fat and yes, even obese on a doctor’s chart. To the person who wrote me that letter, do you think I don’t know that? Your cruel words are pointing out something I don’t see? You don’t know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family, and you admitted that you don’t watch this show so you know nothing about me besides what you see on the outside — and I am much more than a number on a scale,” asserted Livingston.
She continued with an inspirational speech to her viewers by saying, “We are better than that bully. We are better than this email. We are better than the bullies that would try to take us down.”
After Livingston singled out her critic by naming him a bully, she spoke on how October is national anti-bullying month. She argued back that her critic was actually setting a bad example himself to children by bullying her about her weight. “If you’re sitting at home calling the lady on TV fat, then your kids are going to go to school and call someone fat,” said Livingston.
Bullying is currently the fastest growing form of harassment and has caused great difficulties for parents and administrators who try their best to protect their kids and students. The six different types of bullying, according to CharitySub.org, are:
- Physical Bullying
- Verbal Bullying
- Indirect Bullying
- Cyber Bullying
- Social Alienation
- Intimidation Bullying
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