It doesn't really matter if you know or care who Derek Jeter is (New York Yankee baseball player, fyi), all you really need to know is that he's fat. Yup, the formerly hunky super fit athlete, 38, who has dated the likes of Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba, Minka Kelly, and Rachel Uchitel (just to name a few) has packed on the pounds -- and the press and twitterverse are giving him a hard time about his weight gain.
It all started when the New York Post ran this cover photo (right) with the caption "Derek Eater: Rehabbing Jeter takes fork in the road to recovery" and posted a slew of fat pictures of Jeter on its website.
And then the "Derek Eater" comedians came out of the woodwork. There's a Fat Derek Jeter Meme and the twitterverse took off with jokes like ...
Guys, I've always looked this way in a t-shirt and shorts. Pinstripes are slimming. @Yankeemegs
Derek Jeter. Hates Boston. Loves Chowder. kevin dreyfuss
Damn, did he buy Hostess on the cheap? @RichardDeitsch
How did Jeter get so frickin' fat? He recently had ankle surgery and because of that he can't put any weight on his feet for a few months so he can't work out like he did before ... blah blah blah.
The interesting thing in all of this is that Jeter is a man and he is being attacked for gaining weight.
Hooray?
It's not often that a guy in the public eye gets picked on for his appearance. Think back to the presidential debates. No one was really talking about how male moderators Bob Schieffer and Jim Lehrer looked (it was their performance that was critiqued) but man, people sure had something to say about moderator Candy Crowley's appearance -- her weight in particular. When female celebrities get pregnant ... pregnant for Pete's sake! ... their weight gain becomes fodder for obsessive discussion. The media (and the world) constantly judges and attacks women for their weight -- too fat, too skinny, never just right.
But now it seems the discrimination barrier has been broken and poor Derek Jeter is getting skewered for getting a little paunchy. Even if he jokes about it too, the comments can't feel good. It's simply not okay to make fun of people -- men or women -- because they're fat. Even when they're famous.
Do you think women in the public eye get ridiculed for their appearance more than men? Or do you think the media is equally mean to everyone?
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Comments 24
What a fucking bitch you are. If you don't want women to be called out on their weight, don't do it to the men "just because it always happens to women". An eye for an eye makes the world blind.
Sidenote* He's not fat, just packed on a little weight from being injured and not able to work out like he used to, I'm sure.
Well I be. Do you think this is really funny? I find this equally insulting.
"The interesting thing in all of this is that Jeter is a man and he is being attacked for gaining weight. Horray"
wtf is wrong with you
He looks fine to me. Men lose weight easily. Once he can train in the spring, he'll drop the belly in no time.
I find it interesting your headline calls him a fatso and yet you say it's no ok to make fun of people's weight. Don't you think calling someone a fatso is doing just that? You must be skinny.
'bout damn time!