Steven Crowder disguises himself, dupes attendees of ‘fat pride conference’ with fake scientific paper about being overweight

YouTube commentator and comedian Steven Crowder revealed this week that in 2020, he disguised himself as a fat pride activist and gained access to a “fat studies conference,” at which he presented a fake scientific paper titled, “Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump.”

In a video posted to YouTube this week, Crowder detailed his prank and how he was accepted into the conference using makeup, prosthetics, and a fake name. Crowder introduced himself as non-binary and obese and whose past activism involved organizing the Women’s March, March For Our Lives and The Global Climate Strikes in Austin.

At the conference, Crowder, using the name Sea Matheson, presented a faux scientific paper that asserted being overweight was a way to separate oneself from Trump supporters. 

“Because of our current leader’s bigotry: fatness I will argue, acts as a distancing mechanism from the President, as well as his supporters, producing both physical and ideological space that can insulate the individual from intolerant, bigoted, or violent ideology,” Crowder said.

Crowder says he assumed the presentation and paper would immediately be recognized as a joke, but instead the conference attendees applauded him. Crowder says the reason for his ploy was to highlight how obesity has become as much a personal identifier as race or gender identity.

“Crazy ideas like gender fluidity, endless pronouns, fat pride, they were all created the same way and became ingrained into our authoritative sources,” Crowder said. “This isn’t anything new, the insanity of higher education has been influencing culture for decades.”