Monterey Bay Aquarium apologizes for 'body-shaming' tweets about sea otter

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. Some people took offense.|

MONTEREY - 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."

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.