The ordeal is a timely reminder that seeing no longer means believing when it comes to the online world. Perry told NBC News:
Hoaxes and speculation
Perry’s big reveal isn’t the first example of hoax content designed to make a point. In 2015 a journalist created elaborate, but clearly faked, evidence for a “chocolate diet” for weight loss that fooled news outlets and millions of people.
But such hoaxes often cause collateral damage while trying to make a point. There is now speculation about how Perry lost the weight. Viewers are asking whether he used weight-loss drugs, with some calling this method “cheating”.
Such discourse further exacerbates fatphobia and the false dichotomy between “fat” and “thin”.
The impact of the audience
While the thousands of comments on Perry’s videos make him good money, they’re far from harmless.
Choose any of his mukbang videos and you will find plenty of disgust and “concern” in the comments section. Much of this is “concern trolling”, where commenters claim to be concerned supporters when they’re actually opponents.
