Daniel Holmes, a personal trainer and reality tv star, has been dealing with some fairly extreme criticism over his statements that claim that Nike has started to glorify obesity with their use of plus-sized mannequins, and the backlash has seemed to only force them to double down on their stance.
The star of “Married at First Sight,” kicked off the flurry of discourse by highlighting a picture on social media of a slightly larger-than-average mannequin decked out in workout gear onto his personal Instagram page. “Those that say this is empowering are completely delusional,” he stated in the accompanying caption. “It’s promoting early death. There is no power in that.”
MAFS' Daniel Holmes sparks outrage over body shaming comments https://t.co/izUqe4R1vh via @DailyMailCeleb
— jasonsxt (@jasonsxt) December 7, 2022
Due to receiving a series of messages, Holmes spoke up to clarify his comments and stated that they had been taken out of context. However, he did not choose to backtrack, apologize, or state that bodies can be fairly healthy at all sizes, which is a prime talking point within the new fat acceptance movement.
He did state that a large number of people think that overweight people should be working out and should not be made fun of or dissuaded from using workout clothing. However, Holmes went on to state that Nike was just choosing to promote such a body type, not attempting to push the more overweight people to go and get fit.
The personnel trainer claimed that he was not “body shaming” any women with the post he made, stating instead that the companies specializing in activewear that “promote obesity” should be the central target of the public’s anger.
“I’ve done a bit of a scan of all the crazy DMs and got a bit of an overview of what people were saying,” explained the personnel trainer in another post. “And what people were saying was ‘what are people supposed to wear in the gym if they can’t promote overweight activewear.’”
“Hey – clothes? It’s just the gym. It’s just a bunch of metal objects that you pick up. You don’t necessarily need to wear a particular brand of clothing to do that,” he went on. “That’s not the issue, it’s when brands start to cater to unhealthy body types — my concern is where does that lead?”
Holmes went on to point out that his comments should be taken “with compassion” because he does know well just how hard it can be to lose weight.
“I understand it is quite difficult to lose weight. The steps in order to do it are relatively simple but to execute it is pretty difficult… I worked in the fitness industry for close to 10 years and it isn’t a new subject to me,” he stated.
The “MAFS” star finished off his comments by calling out a few brands that he claims promote “unhealthy” body types to get money, which he thinks Nike is attempting to do with these new mannequins.
“When we have brands that essentially promote this idea to make money, yes, I have an issue with that,” stated Holmes.
The resulting comments were inundated with heavy criticism from the internet expressing that people of all sizes should be able to exercise in Nike gear. They also made sure to slam the star for his avid use of steroids in the past.
“It’s a bit rich preaching about healthy lifestyles etc when you have abused steroids don’t you think?” concluded one reply.
