Pro-Obesity Activist Sponsored By McDonald’s Plans ‘Operation Fat Liberation’

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A self-described “fat liberation activist” whose corporate partnerships include Walmart and McDonald’s announced plans to launch a new movement for “fat equality” next week.

On Wednesday, Jae’lynn Chaney, who also goes by “Jae Bae,” unveiled plans to kick off “#OperationFatLiberation2025” on Jan. 13 to her nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram.

“This is about more than my personal fight for fat equality,” she wrote. “What you’re about to witness is just the start.”

The post featured Chaney holding up a sign in an airport that demands “#BODYEQUALITY” and blames the “system” following what she told The Federalist was a three-day conference in Portland, Oregon, for “fat liberation.”

Chaney did not include any details of the upcoming “operation” on Instagram but characterized the campaign in an email to The Federalist as “a long-term, multifaceted advocacy initiative that’s designed to disrupt harmful narratives about fat individuals.”

“The Operation Fat Liberation series will unfold through continuous content, including blogs, short-form videos, long-form articles, interviews, and vlogs,” Chaney told The Federalist. “These pieces will address key issues such as fatphobia, representation, and reclaiming space, while celebrating the strength and resilience of fat individuals.”

“The project is focused on shifting societal standards and creating space for fat joy through stories, challenges, and triumphs,” she added.

Chaney did not say how much money she has made from food corporations such as Walmart and McDonald’s listed on her page as corporate partners, and neither company responded to The Federalist’s inquiries. She did, however, tell The Federalist she was typically paid “anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 per post, with potential for more.” Chaney did not say whether she had also worked with any other food or pharmaceutical companies, both of which regularly sponsor online influencers promoting obesity under the banner of “body positivity,” as chronicled in my recent book, Fat And Unhappy: How “Body Positivity” Is Killing Us (and How to Save Yourself).

In a video posted to YouTube about her latest project last week, Chaney condemns popular targets of similar influencers such as “fatphobia,” “thinness,” and “diet culture.”

“Health is more than a number on the scale,” she says. “It’s about how we feel mentally, emotionally, and physically by doing things that make you feel good and aligned with who you truly are, not by punishing yourself with extreme measures.”

Chaney has an entire page dedicated to “fat liberation” on her website, featuring the original “fat liberation manifesto” from 1973 she says, “stands as a powerful reminder that being fat is not a flaw” or, more critically, “something to be fixed.”

“We, the fat people of the world, declare that we are not sick, we are not a problem, and we are not to be shamed,” her own re-written “manifesto” reads.

Obesity, however, is a major risk factor for nearly every chronic illness and at least 13 different cancers.

In December, a clip of Chaney demanding airplanes be redesigned to include larger seats for overweight passengers went viral because “airlines make their product smaller every year.” Chaney launched an online petition for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandate changes “to protect plus-size travelers” which has already gathered nearly 40,000 signatures. In 2021, the FAA required airlines to recalibrate safety guidelines for aircraft weight to adapt for larger passengers carrying heavier luggage in the 21st century.

According to a 2022 profile of Chaney in The Oregonian, Chaney has also worked with the soap brand Dove, a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the largest processed food companies in the world and the leading ice cream manufacturer in the United States. Unilever did not respond to a Federalist inquiry about the partnership.

[READ: Americans Want To Stop Being Fat And Unhappy But Don’t Know How]

In December, another one of Dove’s plus-sized brand promoters named Virgie Tovar, the author of a book titled, You Have The Right to Remain Fat, similarly went viral for her announcement as San Francisco’s new consultant on “weight stigma.”

“I’m UNBELIEVABLY proud to serve the city I’ve called home for almost 20 years in this way!” wrote Tovar to her nearly 85,000 Instagram followers. Tovar will earn $12,000 through June, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

In March last year, Tovar was featured in Dove’s “Campaign for Size Freedom,” a collaboration with other influencers launched roughly 20 years after the company’s infamous “Campaign for Real Beauty” in 2004. The latest initiative is characterized as a “movement to end body discrimination” and lists the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance as a partner.

Both Chaney and Tovar maintain personal websites filled with the kind of jargon popular among those who embrace far-left identity politics. Similar activists behind the same movement for “body positivity” often co-opt the victimized language to characterize obesity on the hierarchy of marginalized groups under the lexicon of social justice. As outlined in Fat and Unhappy, several states and cities have begun to consider laws similar to one passed in New York City in 2023 to declare obesity a legally protected class.