The Monterey Aquarium Causes OUTRAGE For ‘RACIST Fat Shaming’ …An Otter

The Monterey Aquarium posted THIS tweet, which I think may take an award for “funniest Tweet ever posted by an aquarium.”

BAHAHAHAHA.

#bodypawsitivity

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 18, 2018

Seariously tho, Abby is looking fit for one of the toughest jobs in the world: Raising stranded sea otter pups! She’s one of 6 resident females that train orphaned otters in the necessary skills to survive back in the wild. There’s a lot more to this sea otter than meets the eye!

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 18, 2018

I love this so much. Abby is my after-the-holidays spirit animal.

I like big pups and I cannot lie,
You other otters can’t deny,
When a cute chordate’s got a big ol’ waist and a round rock in your face,
I think it’s fun

— Grace Raver 🗞📹 (@graver317) December 18, 2018

you’re hired

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 18, 2018

YESSSS.

Well, because it’s 2018, things just can’t be funny anymore. Cue the insufferable troll crowd:

And no. She’s not kidding.

Apparently these things are “African-American vernacular” and so it’s racist fat shaming. Or something?

Hey everyone. It has come to our attention that some of the references in this tweet are problematic and insensitive. We’re posting here in the thread so that people who have engaged with this tweet will join us in our learning moment. 1/4

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018

If our tweet alienated you, please know that we are deeply sorry, and that we offer our sincerest apologies. If you follow our feed, we often reference popular memes to talk about the ocean. In this case, the memes used had connotations we were unaware of until now. 2/4

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018

IF THIS TWEET ALIENATED YOU, YOUR LIFE IS GOING TO BE VERY, VERY DIFFICULT.

In particular, several terms referenced originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and specifically reference Black women’s bodies. Using them in a sea otter meme without that background makes insinuations we never intended. We need to do better. 3/4

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018

Our mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean, and we’re thankful for your support as we try to advance that mission on social media. We’re also thankful for those of you out there pointing out our blindspots and how we can improve. Thanks everyone. 4/4

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018

I HATE EVERYONE.