Labor of Love's Kristy Katzmann Compares Being Called Ugly to Black Suffering in the US
Kristy Katzmann, leading lady of Fox's latest reality show Labor of Love's, seemingly equated being rated a 4 in the looks department with the racism faced by black people in the US.
Amidst the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests incited by the death of George Floyd, Fox released the series' third episode on June 4th. Katzmann had already whittled down her pool of potential fathers-to-be from 15 to 11, and dreaded sending even more men home. Three men were on the chopping block last week, including Miami firefighter Angelo Castricone, a contestant who failed to connect with Katzmann on a deeper level after tattle-telling on his fellow bachelors during the prior episode. Castricone politely bid farewell to Katzmann during their heart, taking a pit stop to rant to the cameras about her poor taste in men before driving off. Castricone said, "She wasn't for me anyway. She's a 4 at best. I hang around with 10s and 12s all day."
The following day, Katzmann aired out her frustrations with Castricone's comments in a fiery, long-winded Instagram post. Granting her rant a Joan Didion-esque title, "On being called 'a 4 at best,'" Katzmann delved into her outrage, describing her years-long struggle with self-esteem and body dysmorphia in the process. She wrote, "To agree to be the lead in a television show, where I would without question be judged for my appearance, took tremendous courage and a willingness to look my demons in the eye." She continued, "I’m shaking as I write this because it’s such a significant trigger for me." As her first public, albeit indirect acknowledgment of the Black Lives Matter movement rapidly spreading across the country, Katzmann noted how the chaos and uncertainty of this time is what motivated her to speak out. Check out the full post below:
Katzmann then appears to take a jarring turn in her post, veering from her issues with self-image to racism in America. She airs out her disgust towards people who judge others simply based on their appearance, pleading for the immediate end to such practices. Katzmann wrote:
JUDGING PEOPLE BY THEIR APPEARANCE HAS TO STOP, and it has to stop now. [...] I am speaking out because I don’t stand for it, and I won’t remain silent any longer. I am speaking out because I am sick and tired of people judging other people based solely on physical appearance. Like my appearance or not, I’m so much more than what I look like on the outside, and aren’t we all? I am speaking out because I am shocked in this day and age this behavior and WORSE is still 'acceptable.'
These powerful and forceful statements were sure to get her point across to her 4,500 followers. But the only issue is, what point was she trying to make? Throughout the post, Katzmann avoids explicitly mentioning to racism, injustice, inequality or any other terms related to the greater issue she presumably refers to. While her message is admirable, the vague, roundabout manner in which it was delivered renders it ineffective - but that still isn't the post's only issue.
On June 1st, FOX network issued a 12 second moment of silence accompanied by a message in support of Black Lives Matter. The official Labor of Love Instagram account also posted a message of support the same day, and although it was liked by Katzmann, she waited four days to announce her own half-baked statement. It took a gut-wrenching reminder of what it felt like to be judged on her appearance, via Castricone's middle school tease, to motivate her to speak up.
This need for a personal experience to empathize with the centuries of systemic racism faced by black Americans weakens Katzmann's voice, giving off the impression that she only feels comfortable rallying for a cause if it affects her as well. By comparing her history of being taunted and ridiculed for her appearance to the continued killing and extreme prejudice faced by people of color, Katzmann makes light of the black plight in this country. If she wasn't impacted enough by the death of Floyd or the countless others who faced the same fate before him to vocalize her support, how could being called ugly change her mind?
The wave of reality personalities being fired from their programs and dropped from deals demonstrates that the industry is trying to make a change by holding their stars more accountable. Katzmann is a relative newcomer to the scene, and if her well-intentioned, yet the lackluster statement is any indication, she is already falling behind the curve.
Source: Kristy Katzmann/ Instagram