Yeah, because some guy who’s won awards at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festival is no one in particular? He’s famous, that’s why people are paying attention to him - and not to the poor woman who got humiliated along with him, even with his best efforts to make her plight clear as well, and how he’s alleging that Southwest employees aren’t following their own guidelines.
If you haven’t been hearing about Tiger Woods lately, then good for you. I wish I didn’t know about his undergoing treatment for “sex addiction” and allegations from one of the former mistresses about two pregnancies from him, but for some reason, even mainstream news outlets think that’s important.
According to his blog, what actually happened was this: On the first flight, there was another passenger who was big enough to need a second seat, and there was an unholy mess trying to rearrange people to make that happen. By the time Kevin Smith got on the plane, the pilot told the crew to resolve any issues already so they could get the hell out of there already. Someone took a look at Smith and thought he might potentially need a second seat because the women on either side of him were leaning away from him and they bounced him rather than risk having to go through the whole mess again and make the flight late.
Yes, it was poorly handled. Yes, they should have checked to see if he fit the guidelines instead of just booting him. But we’ve all had days where something happened that made things take much longer than they should and somebody’s on our backs about the delay, and in those situations the urge to say “fuck it, I don’t need any more shit right now” about any other potential problems can be pretty damn powerful. I’m not saying it was in any way or by any stretch of the imagination right, just that I understand how it can happen.
As for Kevin’s whole wailing and gnashing of teeth that now the whole world thinks he’s too fat to fly…well, who publicized this whole thing? My understanding is that he did. And frankly, nobody really much gives a shit how fat he is or isn’t. The people who read his blog know what actually happened. The people who don’t but are roughly his size and have flown Southwest before know that he should fit in the seat just fine, so there must be some kind of snafu or bizarre circumstances. And the people who hear this story and think “yeah, I can see that whale needing two seats” are going to think he’s a whale whether he fits in the seat or not. Either way, most folks will have forgotten this by the weekend if he’ll just shut up already.
And you were on the plane and know this for a fact?
I mean, if you’re gonna be so emphatic about this, you’re going to need to rely upon something other than “it’s obvious” or whatever other witty rejoinders you might have. It’s a question of fact, there needs to be evidence and you don’t have any.
I hope he does go on the Daily Show. I can’t wait till he donates 10k to some shitty film appreciation faux charity. It’ll be great when he’s spilling over into the next seat, swearing up and down he fits.
It’s been touched upon, but obesity is going to be far, far bigger than tobacco was. Both sides duking it out, one side citing studies showing fast food is as addictive as hard drugs, the other saying the genetics “link” is bullshit and it’s about self control. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out, but many tears will be shed in the process. I mean, c’mon, obese people broke It’s a Small World (since refurbished to withstand significantly more weight).
I’m truly amazed at the posters who are saying he’s not enormous. It’s likely their perception is thrown off by their surroundings (I felt out of place and obese in San Francisco, and feel skinny in Pittsburgh, even though I’m am 10 lbs overweight) or family or their own body image. He broke a fucking TOILET fer christsakes.
I am not a small man. I am a large man, 6 feet tall and heavy, but I am not Kevin Smith sized, girth-wise. Airline seats are a snug fit (but still a fit) for me. I think Kevin Smith truly believes he fits, and that he can do so without making others around him uncomfortable. I also think that he’s in denial.
Anecdote: One of the most uncomfortable flying experiences I’ve had was getting stuck in a middle seat between two other large men. None of us overflowed the seat, but everyone had long legs and broad shoulders.
If you would listen to the smodcast you would know exactly what Kevin Smith thinks, he’s very good at expressing his thoughts. You don’t need to speculate. There’s a link upthread somewhere.
I calculate his torso width to be about 18 inches. With his arms at his side (and with a person of his apparent body shape it would be hard for them to be any place else) its more like 27 inches.
My measurements and calcs could be too high or could be too low (probably low actually), but he is certainly close to intruding into his neighboring space a bit too much IMO, if not actually doing so.
something I’d like to know is how were they (Smith and woman) humiliated? Is it just the walk of shame they had to take going out of the plane and wait for another ride? Or were they verbally abused somehow, like being teased.
What I’d like to know is how this incident could possibly be any more humiliating than that article he wrote a few years ago about starting…Xenical, I think it was…because he was so fat he was afraid he would die. You know, the one detailing his oily stools. The one that he not only published in a magazine, but also allowed to be published in a book of his articles and essays. His blog talks about how “too fat to fly” is now going to follow him around forever like herpes, but somehow he thinks that article isn’t? I mean, really?
You can’t tell bythis picture that he is half again the width of the person next to him? That was a 2008 picture and his face doesn’t show signs of weight loss in his blog picture.
He does look like he’s lost weight since the 2008 picture.
BTW, my point of posting that was because people are horrible judges of how much people weigh. I couldn’t decide if he looked 300 pounds or not, but I would not think he made it 400.
You might probably want to wait until he finishes putting up all the parts to the story before posting it up here, some other Dopers may not be so kind as to want bits and pieces of the story spread out.
Though he is as always entertaining to those that love him for who he is
From the picture I cited earlier I would have guessed he weighed between 330 and 350 lbs. I had a rather heavy set boss years ago who use to weigh himself on our industrial scales so I think I have a rough idea.
I feel bad for the guy because he looks like someone I’d want as a neighbor. But the airline is responsible for the person next to him as much as to him. If the plane is completely full then there is no realistic way to accommodate him. Sadly, in order to avoid public embarrassment the airline would have to specifically look for fat people on flights that are completely full or close to full and confront them in the waiting area. Now we’re back to square one singling people out in public,
Sorry,I never heard of Kevin Smith, and I am sorry for his troubles. And I’m certainly glad I’m not hearing any more about Tiger Woods!!! I only brought it up to point out how the media grabs onto these stories, pumps them up with daily breathless updates, whipping up a frenzy, for weeks at a time as though they are something vastly important. Then it all dies down, everyone loses interest, and the plight of a Kevin Smith or Tiger Woods is dropped. Until ANOTHER celebrity does something to whip up MORE frenzy… I can see why, the media wants readers (newspapers, magazines, computer hits), and celebrity misfortunes get more attention than yet another dreary article on unemployment/war/health care reform. All I’m saying, it’s the media’s focus on celebrity pecadillos to keep the public reading that seems kind of silly and desperate.
He controlled that situation. He told the story that he wanted to tell, with his own spin, and he wasn’t being forced to tell it, he did it for a reason – his own reasons. He was decidedly not in any semblance of control in this situation at all.
You mean the blog picture where he’s intentionally blowing up his cheeks in order to look as fat as possible? :rolleyes:
Not only does Smith look ginormous in that, but Seth Rogen looks absolutely svelte. I know he has actually lost weight and the side-by-side positioning in that pic can do nothing but flatter him, but damn that boy is skinny now.
