Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
My great-grandmother used to have a saying: "Every baby is beautiful, so where do all the ugly people come from?" Okay, she was a bit senile, but she had a point. Which is: All babies are beautiful. So for a grown man to call an 18-month-old baby girl "ugly" is both insensitive AND inaccurate. But that's exactly what a panelist on Australian rugby sportscast The Footy Show did -- and what's worse, he didn't even have permission to use the baby's photo on TV!
Apparently The Footy Show has a "Look-a-Likes" segment which compares viewer photos to pics of famous rugby players, and poor little Bella Richmond was mocked for her supposed resemblance to "league great and Channel 9 commentator Peter Sterling." After the panelist called her "ugly," of course. If you're wondering what sort of parents would send in a photo of their baby to be insulted on air, it turns out Bella's mom and dad, Melanie and Michael Richmond, didn't send it in at all! The Footy Show claims the pic was sent in by a "family friend" of the Richmond's who lifted the pic from Melanie's Facebook page.
"We are going to seek legal advice because they (Channel 9) still haven't gotten back to us. We were going to let it go but we can't. Someone has put our baby on TV. We want to get some feedback on what our legal options are now," said Michael.
I don't blame Bella's parents for wanting to throw the book at these buffoons (though I doubt they'll get any sort of settlement, unfortunately). As a mom, I would be furious if someone did this to one of my kids. Furious and disgusted and hurt. I'm disgusted that this happened to little Bella, and she's not even my daughter! Making fun of a defenseless, innocent baby? How mean can you get?!
Maybe next time the panelist from The Footy Show will stick to picking on somebody his own size.
What would you do if someone called your baby "ugly" on national TV?
Image via Channel Nine
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
