Cheerleader "Too Chunky"?: NBA Cheerleader Called "Too Chunky" By Blogger Responds

A cheerleader was called "too chunky" by a CBS blogger, who's come under fire for the comment NBA Oklahoma City Thunder cheerleader, Kelsey Williams, was called "too chunky" to perform by the blogger Anna-Megan Raley, and critics are up in arms at the comment.

The "too chunky" cheerleader comment was written under a pen name, Clare Crawford.  Raley, as Crawford, wrote wrote that Kelsey Williams "has been criticized by some folks in Oklahoma City for having "pudginess" around her waistline... Is this chick "too chunky" to be a cheerleader?"

Readers were then asked to vote in a poll attached to Crawford's blog post -- which was pulled from the CBS Houston website earlier this week -that  encouraged readers to judge Williams' figure.

Voters could choose from three options to determine whether or not Williams' body swayed towards acceptable or excessive in their eyes. In one, Williams had "the perfect look to be an NBA cheerleader"; in another "she could use some tightening up in her midsection"; and in the third "she has no business wearing that outfit in front of people."

Mrs WIlliams, who has cheered for three years on the Oklahoma City Thunder squad, was photographed accompanying the article in what some viewers called pictured "a bad angle" and saying "'this is a disgusting waste of an article". Some called for Ms. Raley to be fired.

In response, Crawford offered a similarly weight-focused backpedal "[If] she's comfortable wearing that tiny outfit and dancing for NBA fans, then good for her," Crawford wrote, the New York Daily News reported. "Besides...not every man likes women to be toothpick skinny. I'd say most men prefer a little extra meat on her bones. Am I right?" Commenters protested that the remark was still just as singularly focused on narrow definitions of male attention and weight; they said that the phrase "extra meat" is hardly embracing of health at any size.

One commenter wrote "It's a hateful attack on a beautiful, talented, motivated woman, and articles like this contribute to the degradation of society, as well as the negative body image so many women struggle with BECAUSE of media outlets." Another said, ""It's articles like this that lead young women and girls to anorexia and bulimia".

Another commenter called it a "'vapid, poorly written, gossip girl blog entry " and said "You should be ashamed of yourself... This is disgusting... You're cruel. GROW UP."

Williams responded on Twitter thanking fans for their encouragement and saying "We wouldn't know what blessings were if we didn't go through trials. Thank you to EVERYONE for the compassion and love today. I'm in awe." and "To be womanly always, discouraged never" in reference to the event.