In case you don’t know, NME‘s reigning Queen Of Cool Beth Ditto is proud of her body — and fierce in the face of those less accepting. When Topshop offered The Gossip a prestigious(?) shot at performing instore for the clothier, Beth acerbically rejected. She told BBC6 (via NME):
I don’t think it’s fair to put my face somewhere where they would never let me in there to wear their clothes. I want the respect that Kate Moss gets. If they want our music they’ve got to actually do something to earn it. I can get money anywhere, I don’t need your money unless you’re going to do it my way.Ditto added: “They don’t want to dress people that look like me, that have a normal body, a bigger body, whatever. I mean I don’t really know why they want The Gossip to do things for them, I don’t understand because if they saw me in the street they’d never give me the time of day. I like me, I think that other girls like me, they need people like me, people who feel really strongly and will say no.
She then counteroffered Topshop, saying she would gladly design a line for larger sized women, which we respect entirely.
But Beth! You confuse us.
What then is the rationale for playing Perez Hilton’s birthday party?! ‘Cause he’s a fan? We appreciate the poetry of The Gossip playing the gossip monger’s shindig and all but — all due respect to the queen of photoshop graffiti — isn’t making an issue of people’s bodies and looks exactly what he’s all about?
We lost your logic, Ditto. But hope you had fun!
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shes a foul beast. but man can she sing
what the f is she doing
It’s like she’s got Grillz, if Grillz were made of chocolate chip cookies.
Well maybe it has something to do with the fact that Perez pimps the shit out of their band every single day and millions of people view the site?
Coincidence?
everyone in this picture has something in their mouth
That photo makes me so glad I never, ever, go to Perez Hilton’s Web page. Thank god for small favors.
It’s also pretty suspect that they feel so empowered to decline all that money. It’s not surprising, though, when you realize that most of the kids who would really need to money aren’t doing indie rock anyway.
Not that I’d want to do it myself. But it’s moreover typical that she’s got a blind eye to one piece of her pseudo-liberal puzzle while being all self-righteous about the other.
yup, Meth-head Hilton will give the band a plug 2 times a day. and she’s morbidly obese
That’s not a “normal” body, its not even healthy!
I hate when obese people claim that their body is ‘normal’ or healthy. If you’re the size of Beth Ditto, you’re going to have a stroke or heart attack before you’re 40 and diabetes before that. Theres no reason to mock people because of their appearance, but don’t go around saying its ‘normal’ to be 200lbs at her height.
I have to admit I was personally confused when she performed at the NME awards with Jarvis, considering the lyrics to “Fat Children.”
OH! COMPUTER GUYS (commenters) RIPPING ON THE AWESOME POWERFUL BIG LADY!!!!!
WHO WOULD’VE THUNK?
lamest comments ever.
coolest lady ever.
hahah meth-head hilton. what a tool. Good God some peoples kids.
http://www.energyturtle.com
We’ve already discussed Beth Ditto’s body to death (no pun intended) over on Brooklyn Vegan: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/03/beth_ditto_nake.html
By the way, The Donnas were also at Perez Hilton’s b-day. Why?
yeah, beth ditto is heart-failure fat. to me, for her to be in a band on kill rock stars and come from the riot grrrl lineage, turning down an offer from topshop is a no-brainer. but promoting a look that will make you die sooner is no more responsible than the waif-shark advertisers she’s criticising. her heart is in the right place, but only till it stops beating, dig?!?!?!
p.s. as an asshole, i’d also like to add that if she was -50 lbs, she’d be totally hott
i thought beth ditto and perez hilton only hung out in my nightmares, not the human realm.
‘THE AWESOME POWERFUL BIG LADY!!!!!’
Sounds like something Godzilla battled in the ’50s.
Go anywhere but the U.S., or the U.S. but 40 years ago. Thin is what’s “normal.”
She really needs to get over the fact that she’s fat.
The rest of us have.
shes a repulsive huge fat pig and will probly die in a couple of years. and that band sucks too.
It’s so disheartening to me that, even here, people are taking the opportunity to dis a cool, outspoken and ridiculously talented woman for being a “fattie.” No wonder Ditto says things like, “if they saw me in the street they’d never give me the time of day.” From the grossly prejudiced and mean-spirited comments here, it sounds like she’d be lucky to be ignored in a crowd. I was truly ashamed and angered by your petty comments.
This just in: The Gossip set to play at a Torrid in the Sherman Oaks Mall.
Seriously, there’s nothing normal about it and people need to stop being self-righteous and start being honest. That’s not “brutal” honesty, just plain, well-meaning honesty. I’ve struggled with my weight before, though not nearly to that degree, but trying to turn something abberant and negative into a symbol of self-empowerment is, well, very American, I guess, since we’re just HOOKED on that self-righteousness stuff, aren’t we?
There’s no need to be cruel, but there is a need to say that obesity is NOT normal ANYWHERE, at any point in human history, and that it’s also a symptom of an ailing culture.
Eh, they’re both a couple of idiots. 15 minutes almost over…
Holy shit! Is the guy on the right wearing a Members Only jacket?
Yea, she has talent, but put down the donut for Christ’s sake! She lacks discipline. If she had more inner strength her music would be even better than it is today.
This girl seems like one of those individuals that has to be this message sender that the world is unfair bluh bluh bluh but in actuality isn’t really helping her case by being over-weight. I could understand if she was trying to lose the weight and was rallying girls and women around her to join in but she isn’t and being over weight is very unhealthy. Your in the public eye, set an example to others to lose the weight and be healthy. That is my really only opinion about this individual, I personally don’t care for her music but that’s more personal than factual.