Jonathan Ross, 59, was criticised by his daughter Honey Kinnon this week when she claimed the TV star and wife Jane Goldman, 50, had suggested “absolutely toxic” diets to help her lose weight. She told ITV’s ‘Loose Women’ panel that their comments followed her confession to “hating her body” as a teenager and they wanted to help her. Now a plus-size model and activist, she warned parents to “not shame” their children into losing weight and to “keep that as far away as possible”. Unearthed accounts reveal this isn’t the first time the BBC presenter has come under fire for comments about weight.
During one clash online, Honey tried to defend her father after he was accused of plotting to make jokes at the expense of “overweight” people at an awards ceremony.
Ross had been invited to host the Hugo Awards – an annual event that recognises science-fiction and fantasy writers.
Novelist Charles Stoss vented his concern that the star would use the platform to attack people and make the event less enjoyable on Twitter.
He wrote: “Ross has past form for using women with weight issues as the butt of his humour.”
Seanan McGuire, a previous award winner, added: “I’ve really enjoyed knowing that, were I to be nominated for a Hugo, the host wouldn’t see me and make fat jokes.
“Like, that thought has actually crossed my mind, when shopping for Hugo dresses, ‘The host won’t mock me.’”
Her 2014 attack on Ross was echoed by fans who added to her take – one feared that the host would “probably be rude” and joked that they “should preemptively set him on fire”.
“You falsely accuse her father of sizeism, she gathers the courage to speak to a bullying adult with 12.5k followers … and you ignored her and casually blathered on about the Oscars.
“Don’t worry about the three real women whose weekend you ruined (me and my daughters).”
Goldman, who later took down her Twitter account, left a final scathing comment to Ms McGuire: “Women like you. Who worry about what to wear and get called fat…
“And feel loved and protected by the man you slandered, and who were brought to tears not by imaginary words, but by your ill-considered poison. You owe my daughter a reply.”
Ross later announced his decision to withdraw from the Hugo Awards and added: “In response to some who would rather I weren’t there. Have a lovely convention.”
Prior to his tweet, he wrote: “If people genuinely believe I would upset them or those they care about then I’d rather not spoil their night…”
One user replied: “I hope you understand it isn’t that we don’t want you there. We don’t want you [to] publicly humiliate our fav [sic] authors. That is what u do.”
Ross fired back: “No. It isn’t. Stop being afraid of what hasn’t happened. I agreed because I love sf (science-fiction). And because Neil Gaiman asked me.”