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Thousands of internet users signed a petition calling for the temporary ban of YouTube vlogger Eugenia Cooney for her "serious underweight condition”.
The change.org petition said the intention wasn't to “dismay her, insult her, (or) belittle her. Instead, it argued that Eugenia's appearance could set a bad example for her more than 900 000 YouTube subscribers, most believed to be teenagers. "She may not be intentionally influencing her viewers, but showing more than 50% of her body in her videos and pictures are not helping girls with Anorexia or any other eating disorder. "Eugenia is setting a bad example for her fellow followers, fans, and friends. The petition managed to garner about 18 000 signatures before it was recently taken down.
"Please Eugenia get some help we love you and can tell you're not okay you could die from dehydration or starvation please just get help," one user commented on one of her Instagram posts.
"Anorexia is not a god damn fashion accessory," commented another outraged user. "Please seek help. The fact that social media like Instagram and YouTube still let you continue making videos, and uploading photos of yourself, in the condition that youre in, thinking its a fashion statement, is ridiculous. "There are anorexia/bulimia survivors out there who would be disrespected by what you post, because eating disorders ARE NOT FASHION STATEMENTS OR LATEST TRENDS!! Please seek help!"
Following the severe backlash, the vlogger took to her Twitter account to address the comments.
"I’m really sorry to the people who want me banned off of YouTube, I’m really not trying to do anything wrong,” she tweeted on Thursday.
“I just don’t really think it’s right to try to get people banned off of YouTube unless they've done something really bad :/.”
She further addressed the negative comments on her YouTube channel. "Seriously, I'm definitely fine I'm definitely not dead or going to die right now...don't worry I'm alive, I'm ok," she said in a new video. "If anything, the whole situation has been kind of upsetting. I'm doing OK, because I'm used to getting hate on the internet," she said. "Seeing a lot of dislikes, I just really feel like that's not going to make anyone feel good."
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Read more:
‘No hospitals will help me’: anorexia sufferer’s heartbreaking video plea
‘I had 48 hours to live’: Anorexic woman makes miraculous recovery
From 30 kg to mom-to-be: 22-year-old shares her decade-long battle with anorexia
