Rebel Wilson chose to ignore fat black women – but her career wouldn't exist without them

Black women must scream to be heard in the film industry in the first place, and we we do, we are labelled angry and aggressive because of it – or in Wilson’s case, blocked

Once again, the accomplishments of people of colour have been erased in the public sphere – this time at the hands of actor Rebel Wilson, the outspoken Australian star of the soon to be released film Isn’t It Romantic. During a promotional tour for the film on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Wilson boldly dubbed herself the first ever plus sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy. Of course, as Twitter swiftly reminded her, she isn’t the first, far from it actually.

If you ask me, Wilson is no stranger to dishing out problematic statements, so to say I was surprised when she made that claim, would be a lie. Especially when so many white women, plus size or not, have such a hard time acknowledging our presence in the first place.

One minute of research before making the claim she did would have saved Wilson from looking the fool. But then, it’s clear from her tweets after the fact, that she thought herself right to have done so.

As many have pointed out, Queen Latifah has starred in a number of romantic comedies. Just off the top of my head I can think of three, Just Wright (2010), Last Holiday (2006) and arguably, Bringing down the house (2003) which she starred in along side Steve Martin. American comedian Mo’Nique also starred in a romantic comedy film called Phat Girlz in 2006.

“Of course know of these movies but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are catorgorized/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area”, wrote Wilson, as if anyone ever really disputed whether or not Mo’Nique or Queen Latifah have ever faced obstacles because of their size as well as their race and gender.

But these were two fat women of colour who were completely overlooked when Wilson made her claim, and sadly this is not an isolated instance.

As American playwright Claire Willett pointed out on Twitter:

“There's a disturbingly common thing in fat white girl culture where fat women of color – black women in particular – are shut out of the conversation about body positivity, media stereotyping, representation, etc., for a host of reasons you may think are well-intentioned.

“Sometimes it's rooted in the deep divide on TV, in movies and in the media between the Fat White Woman and the Fat Black Woman, who are two completely different shitty one-dimensional stereotypes.

The Fat White Woman is a pathetic cat lady.

The Fat Black Woman is ‘sassy.’”

And she’s right. We are seen that way. Whether we’re sassy and sexless mother figures to the main characters, or oversexualised pieces of meat, wherein the joke, as Willett observed, is that a black fat woman has “the audacity to think of herself as attractive LOL HOW DARE SHE”.

What’s even more telling, is the fact that Wilson blocked the countless black women who made the same point as Willett, even going on to praise her for making “great points”, prompting a #RebelWilsonblockedme internet party of sorts, where a number of people of colour have united over their shared treatment by the actor.

As a fat black woman, I am very aware of how unimportant people think my voice is. When it comes to who people consider to have the most important voices, fat women of colour, (dark-skinned black women in particular) are very close to the bottom.

We do not have the luxury of being considered romantic leads, even when we have been. And, as debates over the legitimacy of figures like Jameela Jamil taking the lead in conversations about body positivity have shown, we’re often left out of the body positive movement altogether. Fat black women must scream to be heard in the first place, and then we we do, we are labelled angry and aggressive because of it – or in Wilson’s case, blocked.

In the modelling industry, fat women of colour are constantly erased, as the idolisation of figures like Tess Holliday and Ashley Graham and ignorance over who opened doors for plus size women in the industry in the first place, demonstrates. Where was all that support when Toccara Jones of America’s Next Top Model season three fame, was starting out in the early 2000s, I wonder? Not only did she give aspiring black plus size models hope, but all plus size women. She provided a face and body that a lot of people could relate to, but the support just wasn’t there for her then, and it isn't for women like her now.

This won’t be the last time a white person has thanklessly walked through a door that a person of colour has opened for them, but it’s still ridiculously frustrating to have to point that out all the same.

Lucia Morris is a plus-size blogger. She runs the fashion website U Can't Wear That