Jennifer Lawrence proves why she is one of Barbara Walters’ “10 Most Fascinating People of 2013” on the ABC News special Wednesday when she declares that the government should seriously consider punishing people on television who pick on people for being fat.
“Because why is humiliating people funny?” the 23-year-old “American Hustle” star said in an interview (above) set to air during Walters’ final year-end special. “I just think it should be illegal to call somebody fat on TV.”
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Lawrence, who told Harper’s Bazaar U.K. earlier this fall that she was once warned she might get fired from an acting gig if she did not lose weight, has in the past spoken out against the shallow culture that entertainment can encourage. While speaking to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer to promote “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” Lawrence singled out E! series “Fashion Police” for doing just that.
“There’s shows like the ‘Fashion Police’ and things like that are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on things,” Lawrence said, “that they put values in all the things that are wrong and that it’s OK to point at people and call them ‘ugly’ and call them ‘fat’ and they call it ‘fun’ and ‘welcome to the real world.’”
Lawrence admits in her interview with Walters she herself has been guilty of such shallow comments, but the media needs to take responsibility.
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“I get it, and, and I do it too, we all do it. [But] the media needs to take responsibility for the effect that it has on our younger generation, on these girls who are watching these television shows, and picking up how to talk and how to be cool,” Lawrence said. “I mean, if we’re regulating cigarettes and sex and cuss words, because of the effect they have on our younger generation, why aren’t we regulating things like calling people fat?”
Walters’ full interview with Lawrence will be broadcast during the special that airs Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.