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Mamamia apologises for ‘fat shaming’ podcast guest by revealing behind-the-scenes requirements

Mia Freedman’s content platform Mamamia has apologised for disclosing the behind-the-scenes requests of podcast guest Roxane Gay. 

A backlash against what was labelled as “fat shaming” began when the No Filter podcast, fronted by Freedman, posted a description of the interview, which included posing the question: “Will she fit in the office lift?”

In the podcast opener, Freedman said: “Now, I would normally never breach the confidence of what goes on behind the scenes of organising an interview, but in this case, I’ve thought a lot about it and the fundamental part of her story and what her book is about. She writes about it in the book, I’m sure she won’t mind me telling you any of this,” before detailing a number of phone calls and emails between Mamamia’s staff and Gay’s team which included requests around chairs, questions about elevators and requirements for photographs for private use.

Gay, a New York Times best-selling author and well-known feminist commentator, responded on Twitter noting: “I am appalled by Mamamia. It was a shit show. I can walk a fucking mile.”

Mamamia has since taken down the offending article which related to the podcast, edited the audio of the intro and changed the podcast description.

An apology from Mamamia said: “In no way did Mamamia ever intend to make Roxane Gay feel disrespected and we apologise unequivocally that that was the unintended consequence, including to her publishing team who organised the visit and made the requests in good faith.

“We are mortified to think she would ever believe this to be the case or that we have upset someone we so deeply admire and respect.

“As a publisher that’s championed body diversity and representation in the media we’re deeply apologetic that in this instance we’ve missed the mark in contributing to this discussion.”

Former Mamamia employee Rosie Waterland offered her support to Gay

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