An aquarium sanctuary in California, USA, has apologized for describing one of its sea otters with a term familiar to some people today: “thicc.”
The Monterey Bay Aquarium had posted a photo of its sea otter named Abby on its Twitter posted Wednesday.
Aside from the sea otter looking cute for the camera, netizens noticed how the post described Abby: “Abby is a thicc girl What an absolute unit. She c h o n k. Look at the size of this lady. OH LAWD SHE COMIN. Another Internetism (sic)!”
Abby is a thicc girl
What an absolute unit
She c h o n k
Look at the size of this lady
OH LAWD SHE COMIN
Another Internetism ! pic.twitter.com/s5fav2gu09— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 18, 2018
“Thicc” is a black slang describing a sexually attractive woman, specifically with a big butt and curvy waist.
The tweet garnered 11,000 retweets and almost 38,000 likes, as of this writing. It followed another tweet with the hashtag #bodypawsitivity.
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 18, 2018
However, the description did not sit well with some netizens who found the word insulting. This led to the aquarium to apologize for the post.
“If our tweet alienated you, please know that we are deeply sorry, and that we offer our sincerest apologies,” the aquarium said in another series of tweets made on Thursday.
“In particular, several terms referenced originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and specifically reference Black women’s bodies,” the aquarium explained. “Using them in a sea otter meme without that background makes insinuations we never intended.”
Hey everyone. It has come to our attention that some of the references in this tweet are problematic and insensitive. We're posting here in the thread so that people who have engaged with this tweet will join us in our learning moment. 1/4
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018
If our tweet alienated you, please know that we are deeply sorry, and that we offer our sincerest apologies. If you follow our feed, we often reference popular memes to talk about the ocean. In this case, the memes used had connotations we were unaware of until now. 2/4
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018
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
Our mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean, and we're thankful for your support as we try to advance that mission on social media. We're also thankful for those of you out there pointing out our blindspots and how we can improve. Thanks everyone. 4/4
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) December 19, 2018
While some did not like how the otter was described, others thought that Abby was cute, such as Misha Linn (@misha_linn).
Awwww! I came here for that THICC otter!!! So so cute 😍😍😍😍
— Misha Linn (she/her/hers) (@misha_linn) December 20, 2018
Gabriel (@JeeVee84) juxtaposed Abby’s image with those of Kim Kardashian, Amber Rose and even US President Donald Trump to show their “level of thiccness.”
— ɢᴀʙʀɪᴇʟ (@JeeVee84) December 20, 2018
And Wendy C (@gwenniesmit) thought the aquarium did not have to issue a public apology. “This is a light hearted and well intentioned tweet, and I for one LOVE IT!!” she expressed.
DO NOT APOLOGIZE, this is a light hearted and well intentioned tweet and I for one LOVE IT!! ( and I LOVES me a thicc girl! ; p )
— Wendy C (@gwenniesmit) December 20, 2018
The aquarium’s curator of mammals, Christine DeAngelo, said the photo was taken in a bad angle. ““It’s just the angle of her hips and the way she’s rolled. She’s one of our most photogenic animals,” DeAngelo told The Los Angeles Times.
She explained that the otter most likely had woken up from a nap when the photo was taken. Abby serves as a surrogate mother to orphan sea otter pups. Katrina Hallare /ra
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