Abby the Sea Otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. (Photo: Monterey Bay Aquarium)
California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium has apologized after some people perceived a tweet about a sea otter as body-shaming.
The aquarium on Tuesday tweeted a picture of Abby, an otter who helps train orphaned otters how to survive in the wild. The tweet featured social media words and phrases such as “thick,” ″c h o n k” and “OH LAWD SHE COMIN” which are often used to describe someone who is overweight.
People took offense.
The aquarium on Wednesday tweeted a multipart apology that it called a “learning moment.” It apologized and said it was unaware of the connotations associated with some of the memes.
The aquarium says “Abby is looking fit.”
