‘Today’ Absent-Mindedly Shames Shamed Olympian for ‘Dad Bod’

Ethiopian swimmer Robel Kiros Habte made headlines recently when he showed up to the 100-meter freestyle preliminary race out of shape. The Internet exploded with mockery of Habte, even dubbing him “Robel the whale.” A flood of support soon rushed in as people began to defend Habte against the body-shaming. All this attention landed the Olympian an interview with Today, where once again they did not ask about the Olympics.

Al Roker, 61, who lost a lot of weight following gastric-bypass surgery, began the interview by comparing the 24-year-old Olympian to himself and co-anchor Billy Bush.

Roker said, “You give normal guys like us hope.” Followed by, “You look even better than normal guys like us, but you’re closer to normal guys like us.”

Habte is not fluent in English, but that didn’t stop Bush from bringing up the American expression “dad bod,” then going on to ask how Habte has handled the reaction to his physique, while at the same time comparing him to the chiseled Michael Phelps “and others.” Habte responded by saying how happy he was just to be competing in the Olympics, especially as a swimmer from Ethiopia, which, as Natalie Morales pointed out, is mostly known for runners.

The women of ‘Today’ have a raucous girls’ night out in Rio:

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