Demi Lovato Gets Drawn as a Mermaid, Hurts an Artist’s Feelings, Then Gets Fat Shamed

Demi Lovato wasn’t thrilled when a fan drew an image of her as a mermaid — but it wasn’t the fishtail that made her unhappy. (Photo: Getty Images)

Celebrities often have quite the strong base of fans who would do almost anything to show their support for their favorite performer, with one of the most popular forms being fan art. However, when one artist, Vladimir Serbanescu, a 17-year-old artist from Romania, drew singer Demi Lovato as a mermaid, he didn’t exactly receive the positive reaction he had expected from the star.

After seeing the post, Lovato reacted to the larger breasts and tiny waist in the drawing, commenting, “Is that how my boobs should look? It’s gorgeous but that’s not my body.” While most people would be ecstatic to have Lovato comment on their social media posts, Serbanescu was hurt that his artwork had been criticized by Lovato instead of praised. See the original drawing for yourself, below:

A photo posted by V L A D I (@vladyart) on Sept. 29, 2016 at 9:30 p.m. PT

As a result, Serbanescu responded, “If I make your waist slimmer and your boobs bigger to accentuate the fact that I drew you as a mermaid, a mythological creature, doesn’t mean I say that you should look like that or all girls should look like that. That’s how I imagine mermaids. I worked a lot on that drawing and i was proud of it, but not anymore.”

It’s hard not to feel a bit of sympathy toward Serbanescu, causing the Internet trolls to see this as an opportunity to attack Lovato. Specifically, one man decided to Photoshop the original drawing to make Lovato’s figure appear much larger in the image than it is in real life. See the Photoshopped picture below:

Chill, I have fixed it for you. @ddlovato pic.twitter.com/lhsNfD2nLI

Although Lovato may have come across as a bit harsh in her reaction to the drawing created by Serbanescu, fat shaming her with this altered image was definitely taking things a bit too far, especially since Lovato has been very open about her struggles with body image and her past eating disorders.

After seeing this, quite a few of her fans decided to jump in to speak out in defense of Lovato on Twitter:

@hisillusion @ddlovato this is truly terrible.. You’re disgusting

@TrollingFeggit i DONT think its funny she had an eating disorder and shes being bodyshamed thats not funny at all it’s hurtful

No matter how you feel about the original drawing and Lovato’s reaction, it’s safe to say that this whole fiasco has gotten way out of control. Whether or not Lovato’s response to Serbanescu’s artwork seemed dismissive or ungrateful isn’t the issue, it’s the fact that fat shaming is never OK, no matter what the circumstances are.

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