Bumble hits back at Dean Wells after his rant about their body-shaming policy

Last month, Married At First Sight’s Dean Wells criticised dating app Bumble’s decision to ban body-shaming language on its platform. 

On Wednesday, the company hit back at the 43-year-old reality star for his views on their new policy in an open letter.

The lengthy letter ‘rejected’ Dean’s claim that the new rules are a ‘violation of [his] freedom of speech’.  

‘We reject the idea that it’s acceptable to say someone is too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, or whatever your complaint might be,’ they wrote.

‘You’re not entitled to make unsolicited comments to someone about their body just because it doesn’t meet your standards.’ 

The letter continued: ‘You don’t have the right to make someone feel undesirable because you don’t find them attractive. But we do have the right to ban you from our platform if you do.’ 

It went on to add that from ‘the earliest of ages’ people are ‘taught to feel embarrassed and ashamed of their bodies’ and body shaming can cause them ‘mental and physical harm’.  

The company then urged Dean to ‘keep [his] personal opinions about [someone’s] body to [himself]’. 

The letter concluded: ‘At Bumble our mission is to end misogyny around the world, and it starts with calling out bad behaviour like body shaming.

‘Let’s focus on creating a kinder and more accepting internet for everyone.’ 

Last week, Dean slammed the company’s new policy and argued it was somehow an attack on free speech.

‘Yet another example of our freedoms being taken away one by one,’ he wrote on Instagram next to a screenshot of an online news article about Bumble’s ruling.

He added: ‘Little by little our right to say, think and do whatever we want is being eroded.’

Returning to Instagram Stories a few hours later, Dean said he had received ‘tons of messages’ about his post and insisted ‘people are really taking it the wrong way’.

‘Of course I don’t condone fat-shaming, body-shaming, name-calling, all that kind of stuff…’ he began.

‘However, we’ve just had movies, TV shows censored. People kicked off Twitter, people kicked off all kinds of platforms, just for saying the wrong thing.

‘You can’t have free speech but then decide which things people are allowed to be free to speak about.

‘Like, you have to have free speech for all and for everything, and just suck it up. It’s just words. Yeah, it sucks, but just block the person, kick them off.’

Dean, who has been trolled himself in the past, argued that ‘there’s already too many restrictions on what we can and can’t say and can and can’t do’ and that censorship ‘is getting ridiculous’.

He then shared an example of some of the name-calling he’d received because of his comments on the Bumble story, adding: ‘You do realise that I’m defending your right to be able to say dumb s**t like that?’

Dean continued: ‘This is not China. This is a free country, you should be able to say whatever the hell you want. I can take it.’