Italy: Pop star Emma hits back over body shaming

Rome: Italian pop star Emma Marrone has hit back at a male journalist over his negative comments about her physical appearance, amid accusations of body shaming.

Referring to Marrone’s recent performance in Italy’s Sanremo song contest, Davide Maggio said in a live Instragram video: “If you have large legs, avoid wearing fishnet stockings.”

The singer, who is known professionally as Emma, posted a lengthy video on social media in response to Maggio’s comment, directing her message to “everyone from the Middle Ages.”

Saying it was no longer possible to “stay silent in the face of the fact that anyone can talk about another person in such an incorrect way,” Emma appealed “to girls, to the very young ones: avoid listening to or reading comments like that. Your body is perfect as it is, you have to love and respect it and above all you have to dress as you please.”

The singer, 37, also pointed out that alongside “those who can handle” such comments, there are those “who are fragile and risk falling into an endless black hole.”

Emma’s fans lashed out at Maggio, who replied accusing the artist of causing “a shitstorm” by inciting her fans against him, adding that she should be ashamed.

Maggio’s remarks were condemned widely on social media including by the prominent centre-left politician Laura Boldrini who said: “It is not men who decide how women can dress!…Judging the female body is one of the most hateful forms of male chauvinism.”

In 2017 Emma was the subject of a ‘prank’ as she sang on Italian television, involving a backing dancer repeatedly groping her, against her consent, before producers revealed it had been staged as a “joke”.