This story was originally published on April 16, 2015.
Recently, Michael Bublé made a serious
faux pas on social media: The crooner shared a shot of himself, arms folded and
slightly smirking, near an unsuspecting female bystander. All we see of this
woman is her backside — particularly, her butt in a pair of black spandex
shorts. “There was something about this photo lu took, that seemed worthy of instagram,”
Bublé captioned the pic, which you can see for yourself below.
The photo has since garnered more than 38,000 likes — as well as a fair amount
of flack from followers who think Bublé made a big mistake. Commenters have
accused the singer of body-shaming the woman in the picture, as well as
objectification and sidestepping consent; (it’s clear in the image that his
subject was not aware that she was being snapped from behind.) But, other
followers thought the negative reaction was unwarranted, and pointed out
that a woman with that butt in those shorts understands what kind of attention she’s
asking for.
Bublé clearly realized the image was likely to garner some negative attention —
that’s likely why he attempted to caveat his post with big booty worshipping
hashtags like #babygotback and #beautifulbum; as for why he felt it necessary
to include #hungryshorts, the world may never know. The real problem here — and the one that Bublé likely never considered — is
that this woman’s body wasn’t his to comment on and share in the
first place.
Snapping a clandestine photo of a woman you don’t know in a public place
and sharing it with the million people tuned into your Instagram account — even
if you are being complimentary — is
messed up. It boils a person down to their most diminished and least important
form: what they look like. It’s sexist and creepy. And, women of the world,
including the ones with ample bottoms in bike shorts, deserve better than
that.