Whatever You Think Of Gordon Ramsay, It Doesn’t Mean His Daughter Tilly Deserves Abuse

Last week, we were all outraged when Steve Allen - an LBC host in his 60s - called Tilly Ramsay, currently appearing on Strictly Come Dancing{ =nofollow}, a 'chubby little thing'. Making the remark live on air, he then added: 'Probably her dad's cooking, I should imagine.' The internet quickly rallied around Tilly in support, after she posted a statement on Instagram saying that while she tries to ignore 'negativity', 'being called out on a national radio station by a 67-year-old man [was] a step too far'.

A lot of people presumed her dad might get involved. But now, Gordon{ =nofollow}has finally responded to the comments, saying on an Instagram live how proud he was of his daughter. 'It made me feel very proud that she stood up and said, "I’m not taking this." She is 19-years of age for goodness sake – bursting her arse off and attending university by Zoom and learning the most extraordinary moves with Nikita [Kuzmin],' he said. 'I think it was a breath of fresh air that level of standing up and saying, "We’re not going to tolerate that."'

However, following Tilly's statement, not everyone was in support of the 19-year-old - with some (even those writing newspaper columns) suggesting she should be more open to criticism - because of her dad. Some even said that if she was so hurt by Steve Allen's comment, she should talk to her father, due to Gordon's previous form for fat shaming. In 2017, the chef called Jamie Oliver fat and accused him of fixing the UK obesity crisis by eating everything himself. And on Hell's Kitchen, in 2007, he told one contestant: 'You are one chunky monkey, aren’t you?'

But what these people have failed to remember is that Tilly is not her dad. Just because you might not like Gordon - a man who has built a career from screaming at people on TV, from Hell's Kitchen to Kitchen Nightmares - that doesn't mean Tilly deserves horrific body-shaming comments, or any kind of trolling. For goodness sake, if we all had to be accountable for our parent's actions or beliefs, a lot of us would probably have to spend of time apologising.

And yes, Tilly might have had her career helped by having famous connections - but that doesn't mean someone is fair game to abuse either. When will everyone finally learn to be #BeKind?

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