Cape Town man Donovan Tooth found himself trending on the Twitter charts over the weekend for all the wrong reasons.
Taking to his Instagram Stories, the fitness fanatic and “motivational speaker” held nothing back as he proceeded to engage his followers in an expletive-filled monologue fat-shaming women and speaking of them in a derogatory manner.
“In anyone’s right f****** mind, that woman is not curvy... She’s got f****** 10 kilos to lose. Like b****, get on a f****** treadmill and lose the fat,” he says while looking into the camera.
One of the women he referred to in the video is Nelly London, a lingerie model who is also a body acceptance activist. In the aftermath of the video going viral, she, too, responded to the post in a thinly-veiled jab at Tooth.
Soon Twitter caught wind of Tooth’s rant, and things started to snowball.
Women across the country voiced their disdain at the misogyny and fat shaming promoted in Tooth’s self-indulgent monologue.
“Men like #toothsta don't have the tools/the tool to handle "fat overweight" women so they become nasty … The small man syndrome clearly shows through his videos,” commented one user.
Men like #toothsta don't have the tools/the tool to handle "fat overweight" women so they become nasty... The small man syndrome clearly shows through his videos! 🤣
"Shaming women's bodies doesn't make you a man. By the looks of it bru, not even supplements can,“ said another.
Online sleuths went digging and discovered that Tooth is employed by Panda Clothing, a local activewear brand. Further investigations showed that he is allegedly also sole director and shareholder of the company.
Bullshit apology. And @panda_apparelsa has miraculously distanced itself from the post. A simple CIPC search will reveal this little fucker is the sole director and no doubt shareholder of this backyard apparel company. #donovantooth #pandaclothing pic.twitter.com/VBa6UFvJfd
The brand has since distanced itself from him and issued a public apology of their own on social media.
Panda said: “PANDA Clothing and it’s shareholders disassociates itself from the derogatory post which was an attack on the female form. It is unacceptable, shameful and has no place in Panda’s value system.”
After the outcry over his post, Tooth also issued an apology, but has since deleted all his social media accounts.