MONTEREY, Calif. — California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium has apologized after some people perceived a tweet about a sea otter as body-shaming.
The aquarium on Tuesday tweeted a picture of Abby, an otter who helps train orphaned otters how to survive in the wild. The tweet featured social media words and phrases such as “thick,” “c h o n k” and “OH LAWD SHE COMIN” which are often used to describe someone who is overweight.
People took offense.
The aquarium on Wednesday tweeted a multipart apology that it called a “learning moment.” It apologized and said it was unaware of the connotations associated with some of the memes.
The aquarium says “Abby is looking fit.”
In particular, several terms referenced originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and specifically reference Black women's bodies. Using them in a sea otter meme without that background makes insinuations we never intended. We need to do better. 3/4
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018