Kevin Smith 'Fat, And In Trouble,' Says Sun-Times 'Fat Nag'

It might be too late, but it's certainly not too little: ten days after the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines kerfuffle, the Chicago Sun-Times's "Fat Nag" has decided to weigh in on the issue.

"Smith is a self-absorbed blowhard. He needs to lay off the tweeting and put that energy into reducing his girth," wrote Laura Washington in a column on Monday. "There's nothing funny about America's obesity epidemic."

Washington has been on a months-long hiatus from writing her "Fat Nag" column, her personal "crusade to nudge, cajole, convince and yes -- nag us -- to get the fat off." But the Kevin Smith story brought her out of retirement.

Smith was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight because of questions about his weight. He insists that he doesn't meet the airline's guidelines for "too fat to fly," but Southwest employees contend that they were in a hurried boarding process and made a judgment call that Smith might need two seats instead of one. On a tightly-packed plane, this simply wouldn't fly.

Smith kicked up a fuss on Twitter, which in turn caused a stir across the major news networks and around the blogosphere. But the Fat Nag wasn't having any of it.

"Of course, Mr. Fat and Unhappy's publicity ploy worked like a charm," she wrote. "The Nag is not amused."

Sure, it might be argued that the obesity epidemic in this country has to do as much with wider social and environmental pressures as it does with individual choices. You know, that the fact that obesity disproportionately affects the poor and uneducated might not be a total accident.

In fact, Washington quotes the people who make that argument, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She calls them "acceptance peddlers" promoting "denial-by-euphemism."

She concludes with a bit of "tough love" for Kevin Smith, telling him his weight is "unacceptable" and that "it's killing you."

It remains to be seen if Silent Bob will strike back.