Former Disney star Demi Lovato has slammed the channel on Twitter over a joke about eating disorder on one of their shows. The 19-year-old singer-actress, who entered rehab last year for bulimia and bipolar disorder was upset with a character on ‘Shake It Up’ who quipped, “I could just eat you up, well if I ate”, reported Us magazine. “I find it really funny how a company can lose one of their actresses from the pressures of an eating disorder and yet still make a joke about that very disease. #nice (sic),” the former star of ‘Sonny With a Chance’, tweeted Friday. Lovato added, “And is it just me or are the actresses (on Disney Channel) getting thinner and thinner… I miss the days of Raven, and Lizzie McGuire,” she said, referencing former Disney actresses Raven Simone and Hilary Duff.
She then sent one final message to her former employer: “Dear Disney Channel, eating disorders are not something to joke about.” In addition to reaching more than five million followers, Lovato’s rant clearly made it to Disney. Just a few hours later the company’s official public relations responded to her with two tweets, “@ddlovato – we hear you and are pulling both episodes as quickly as possible & reevaluating them.” “@ddlovato – It’s never our intention to make light of eating disorders!” As a result, Disney pulled the ‘Shake It Up’ episode titled ‘Party It Up’ and an episode of another show called ‘So Random!’.
