Nicole Arbour, the YouTube comedian who made a fat-shaming video that was later banned from the site (then restored), is not sorry. On Tuesday, she tweeted that she was being targeted because she's a woman, writing, "The reason there's an issue is because I don't 'look' like a traditional comedian. If I were a guy, people would have lol'd n moved on." If it wasn't clear based on that tweet that the people she derides in her video should not be expecting an apology, her appearance on The View on Wednesday made it crystal clear.
When Whoopi Goldberg asked early on in the segment if Arbour thought she'd offend people with her video, Arbour asserted that all her videos were created to offend because, "It's just satire, I'm just being silly, I'm just having a bit of fun." Satire is fun. Satire is Airplane! and This Is Spinal Tap. Satire is not bullying millions of people online who most likely have faced plenty of bullying IRL.
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Joy Behar, who looked totally unamused from start to finish (possibly realizing just how tremendously she'd messed up by insulting nurses), confronted Arbour about her tweet, asking her why she thought a man wouldn't get the same reaction. Arbour replied, "I believe that because guy comics, in movies, are saying the same kind of stuff, and I'm getting cast as the cocktail waitress that's topless for no reason standing beside him." Arbour obviously works off the traditional "two wrongs make a right" philosophy.
When Michelle Collins called the video "borderline bullying," Arbour replied, "It's not bullying, if you came to me." This, of course, discounts all the people who saw the video on their Facebook and Twitter feeds, clicking it out of a morbid curiosity, or maybe even a hope that it wouldn't be what they thought.
Arbour, perhaps unaware of how horrifically she failed at explaining herself, even posted a carefree Instagram selfie on set, suggesting there was something wrong with The View hosts for just not getting how totally hilarious her bullying video was. She captioned the photo, "Who saw me on @abctheview !!! My view is some of dem ladies need to smoke a joint reaaaaaaaaal bad. ? #LifeAintThatSerious #GOTEAM."
Nicole Arbour's mean-spirited video has 27 million hits (as of her The View appearance, according to Goldberg) and her name is being dropped on major websites across the web. It's obvious that what she's after is notoriety. And, through insults and vitriol, she's succeeded.