CMAT shares ‘deep sadness’ over body-shaming after BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend performance
CMAT said she felt deep sadness after online abuse about her body following her BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend set in Sunderland.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The Irish singer-songwriter said repeated body-shaming online has made her rise feel less joyful, and she pushed back on commenters who treated her size as a choice. Her response highlighted how women on the same festival lineup were judged very differently.
CMAT is a singer who played a big music festival. After her show, some people on the internet were rude about how her body looks.
She said that made her feel very sad, and she explained that her body is not a costume she can just take off. It is part of her, like the shape of a tree is part of the tree.
The story matters because it shows how mean comments can hurt people, especially women in public life, even when they are doing their job and performing on stage.
Analysis
CMAT, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, responded on Instagram after facing fresh abuse about her body and weight following her appearance at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in Sunderland on 24 May. She said she felt compelled to speak for herself after seeing the comments and images circulating online.
In her post, she described the repeated attention to her body as tiring and said it has intensified as she has become more famous. She also rejected the idea that her appearance is a performance choice, saying she simply has a body and would like to change it if she could, but has found that difficult.
CMAT said the abuse has made her success feel increasingly tainted because she believes she would be allowed to enjoy it more freely if she were thin. She shared a Substack essay by a music fan that compared her treatment with that of other women on the same Big Weekend lineup, including Zara Larsson and Olivia Dean, who appeared to face less online hostility.
The singer has already addressed body scrutiny in her work. Last year she released Take a Sexy Picture of Me, a song that criticized the pressure women face over looks and appearance. She is currently touring her third album, Euro-Country, with a sold-out Dublin show scheduled for Saturday.
Key points
- CMAT responded to body-shaming after her Radio 1 Big Weekend performance in Sunderland.
- She said the abuse has become worse as her fame has grown.
- She rejected the idea that her body size is a choice or a performance act.
- She shared a fan essay arguing that other women on the same lineup were treated more kindly online.
- The incident connects to her earlier song about scrutiny of women’s appearance.
