Take your body-shaming elsewhere.
That’s the message South African plus-size model, blogger and photographer Lesego “Lee” Legobane had for a Twitter troll who attempted to make a joke using her image.
On Tuesday, Twitter user Leyton Mokgerepi used a photo of Legobane in a meme comparing her to another bikini model. He attempted to disparage her, writing, “Girls that I like vs. Girls that like me.”
Someone tagged Legobane in the post, she told HuffPost, and she decided to reply because she “felt he was being rude.”
And she made it clear there’s no affection there.
Her response went viral with over 730,000 likes and counting, including from Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande and Ava DuVernay.
“I’m overwhelmed by the love from people from all over the world, it’s [so] sweet!” she wrote to HuffPost in an email Wednesday. “I’ve been getting DMs from women thanking me for embracing my body and loving myself. This is why body positivity on a public platform is so important, because others [are] able to draw inspiration from me and I appreciate that. [It] means a lot to me that I can change someone’s perception about their physical appearance by loving my own.”
Legobane wants men to know that plus-size women are not to be patronized.
“I hate it when men think that fat girls are desperate and that we like every other guy [because] ‘we don’t have options,’” she told HuffPost. “It’s utter nonsense. I can be fat and still be out of your league.”
As for the body-shaming commenter, Twitter users don’t think things are looking too good for him.