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Why an aquarium had to apologise for this picture of an otter

An aquarium has apologised for a viral tweet about one of its sea otters, which seemed to poke fun at the mammal’s size and called her a “thicc girl”, “chonk” and an “absolute unit”.

Monterey Bay Aquarium shared the picture of Abby the otter a couple of days ago, but the post has sparked a debate and some backlash, with a number of people having an issue with the slang used believing it has a racial undertone.

“The tweet was absolutely insensitive, and I appreciate the desire to do better,” one woman wrote.

“Stop appropriating AAVE and Black language to be “hip”. This isn’t cute but the otter is.” another person tweeted.

“The aquarium was offensive about black women while trying to protect their otters,” a different Twitter user said.

The aquarium posted a series of tweets after receiving criticism, saying it has come to their attention some references in the post were “problematic and insensitive,” and they apologised to those they may have offended.

“If you follow our feed, we often reference popular memes to talk about the ocean. In this case, the memes used had connotations we were unaware of until now,” Monterey Bay Aquarium wrote online.

“In particular, several terms referenced originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and specifically reference Black women’s bodies,” the aquarium added.

“Using them in a sea otter meme without that background makes insinuations we never intended. We need to do better.”

Other social media users have told the aquarium there was no need to apologise for the tweet.

“Any shapely woman can be “thicc” regardless of race and “chonk” is in reference to cats. Don’t listen to people trying to make issues where there aren’t any,” one Twitter user wrote

“Whoever got offended by this needs to grow up and needs to learn to handle a joke,” said another.

“This is a light hearted and well intentioned tweet and I for one LOVE IT!!” a third wrote wrote.

While another person wrote: “I thought this meme was awesome but I also really appreciate your sensitivity and addressing the legitimate concerns from the community. Especially women who are frequently devalued by our society.”

According to another tweet by the aquarium, Abby is one of six resident females who trains orphaned sea otter pups and helps them gain the necessary skills to survive in the wild.

The aquarium’s curator of mammals, Christine DeAngelo, told the LA Times that the pic was not snapped at a good angle for the otter, who is 11 and has a healthy weight of about 21 kilograms.

“That’s not blubber or anything,” Ms DeAngelo said.

“It’s just the angle of her hips and the way she’s rolled. She’s one of our most photogenic animals.”