Glee’s Ashley Fink vs. Rosie O’Donnell

Ashley Fink and Rosie O'Donnell

So apparently, Rosie O’Donnell took time out from not doing anything to bash Ashley Fink, who plays Lauren Zizes on Glee, because she feels that fat girls on TV aren’t allowed to be awesome badasses who have hot pieces of ass at their beck and call. Fittingly, Ashley fired back by saying that she did, in fact, get all the boys in the yard thanks to her milkshake.

The Lauren and Puck romance on Glee has been causing quite a stir in the blogosphere, but the controversy seems to have come to a head after last week’s episode with Rosie O’Donnell’s statements to Access Hollywood about the onscreen pairing. “Every woman I know who’s heavy has very strong feelings about that storyline,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Can you believe that? I think it’s horrible. That never happens in school. That character is so unlikable. Why didn’t they get a pretty heavy girl?’” She went on to say that “every story deserves to be told,” but what’s your take on her more unflattering observations?

It’s so crazy. Rosie’s been talking about me for a bit now, and it was very positive. Then she was on Access Hollywood, promoting a new hairstyle or something, and for some reason she decided to talk about me again. I’ve been a fan of Rosie’s for a long time — for Christmas one year I asked for a Koosh ball like she threw at people because I thought she was the coolest lady ever — so I am surprised at the comments she made. I’ve got swagger too, so I don’t find my storyline unrealistic. When I went to performing arts high school, I did date the cutest boy in school, and I sang whatever song I wanted. My storyline has resonated with a lot of people, plus-sized and not, who don’t feel “other,” so I’m honored to portray Lauren.

Does it hurt to hear someone you so admire say unsupportive things about you and your character?

Not really, but I’ll possibly address it with her in the future. If I see her, I might be like, “Woman, let’s talk about this. Don’t be jealous ’cause a big girl’s doing her thing on Glee.” [Laughs] I love Rosie and I respect her opinion, so all I can say is that some of her comments were strange to me. But she was supportive originally, and I think she’s still supportive: She did say that she knows Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy are good navigators of this ship, and I agree. Besides, I don’t write the show, so I don’t have control over her complaints. But I’m really happy with my character, I’m proud to play her, and I’m having a blast. The whole plus-sized thing is so relevant in the media, but it’s so much less of a big deal in real life. SOURCE

One thing that confuses me about this: Think of all those TV shows where they couple a fat, lazy husband with a disproportionately attractive wife. Now why the hell can’t we have a confident, sexy big girl who just so happens to be banging a fine piece of ass like Mark Salling? I’m pretty sure I find that offensive in some way. Is fattist a word? Whatever, I’m making it a word. Rosie is fattist!

Ashley Fink and Rosie O'Donnell

About JEREMY FEIST 4832 Articles
Jeremy Feist is an (ahem) entertainer from Toronto, Canada. He writes, acts, and performs on stage, and has been a writer for Popbytes for almost three years now. He lives in Toronto with his boyfriend, his incredibly dumb but cute puppy, and his immortal cat.