EVERYTHING IS PROBLEMATICAL: Weight Watchers Removes “Weird Al” Statue After Controversy.
Weight Watchers has officially removed the statue of “Weird” Al Yankovic from its corporate headquarters in Manhattan and will no longer play Yankovic’s “Now That’s What I Call Polka!” in their television commercials, the organization announced in a statement on Monday.
This follows last week’s decision by Jenny Craig to suspend the use of Yankovic’s rendition of “Dare To Be Stupid” in their latest exercise video release “Let’s Lose It 2019!” while they investigate an allegation of sizeism against the singer.
The statue of Yankovic in front of the Weight Watchers Madison Avenue office was first covered and then removed.
Channel 8’s RJ Fletcher reported Thursday there are conflicting claims about Yankovic’s 1988 song “I’m Fat.” Some say the song was a parody of a pop song and was considered satire, but has also been said that Yankovic, a vegan, hates obese people.
It’s a funny song, the video was quite clever, and so who cares why he wrote it?