Greta Thunberg calls out Chinese state-run media for ‘fat-shaming’ her in a scathing article that questioned her veganism

• An article in the China Daily accused Greta Thunberg of lying about being a vegetarian.
• The China Daily is a newspaper owned by the propaganda department of China’s ruling Communist Party.
• She responded on Twitter by calling being a “fat-shamed” a “pretty weird experience.”
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Greta Thunberg has called out Chinese state media for “fat-shaming” her in a scathing article that questioned her vegetarianism, the Independent reported.

The article published last week by the China Daily, a newspaper owned by the propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, implied that the 18-year-old climate activist was lying about her meat-free diet.

“Although she claims to be vegetarian, judging from the results of her growth, her carbon emissions are actually not low,” wrote the China Daily journalist Tang Ge.

Thunberg, who is a vegan, responded to the article on Twitter on Friday. She described how being “fat-shamed” by a wing of the Chinese government was a “pretty weird” experience.

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-Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) May 21, 2021

“Being fat-shamed by Chinese state-owned media is a pretty weird experience even by my standards,” Thunberg wrote. “But it’s definitely going on my resume.”

The climate activist has been heavily critiqued by the China Daily since posting a tweet on May 7 calling on China to do more to help address the climate crisis, Vice News reported.

-Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) May 7, 2021

She was previously attacked in China for supporting the poster boy of Hong Kong pro-democracy protest movement, Joshua Wong, Vice said.