Musk Joins Critics Of Dove’s Controversial New BLM Spokesperson

Dove — the soap company owned by Unilever — has teamed up with diverse and sometimes unorthodox influencers and brand ambassadors in recent years, but one of its latest choices has sparked some serious controversy.

While the company’s stated goal of encouraging positive body image might be laudable on the surface, the decision to make “fat liberation” advocate Zyahna Bryant a spokesperson struck many critics as wildly inappropriate.

The Black Lives Matter activist was present during a 2020 rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, following the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A number of counterprotesters were also on the scene, including Morgan Bettinger.

Following the protest, Bryant accused Bettinger of shouting that the BLM demonstrators would make “good speed bumps.”

There was no direct evidence that Bettinger made the offensive remark and Bryant later acknowledged that she might not have heard it at all.

Nevertheless, the accusation was enough to initiate widespread backlash against Bettinger both online and in person. The claim was repeated countless times by local media outlets and in a blog post by the group that organized the rally.

“Morgan drove around the public works truck blocking the street that demonstrators were convened on, and felt compelled to say, not just once, but twice, that protesters would ‘make good speed bumps,’” Charlottesville Beyond Policing wrote as fact, relying on Bryant’s unsubstantiated claims. “The second time she repeated it loudly to a Black protester and added ‘good f***ing speed bumps.’”

An investigation into the matter dragged on for more than a year before Bettinger’s name was finally cleared.

Despite her central role in fundamentally derailing a college student’s life, Bryant was rewarded with a high-profile position as a Dove spokesperson, prompting a flurry of critics on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — to denounce the company’s decision. Elon Musk, X’s owner, denounced the decision as “messed up.”

In a social media post celebrating obesity in partnership with Dove, Bryant attempted to portray herself as a champion of the downtrodden, asserting: “My belief is that we should be centering the voices and experiences of the most marginalized people and communities at all times.”