I honestly never thought about this issue, but now that you're saying so, I totally agree. Dressing up in a fat suit for laughs a nasty, bullying thing to do. Unfortunately i think it's going to take actors being proactively against them, before the industry changes. "I refuse to wear this," etc.

Everything surrounding Renee and body image is SO problematic. 

The thing I hate about fat suits too is that they become the key talking point for every project. I don't even hear anyone talking about anything surrounding The Thing About Pam besides the fat suit. 

It does feel like something that should be left behind in the 90s. But, then again, we haven't even had a fat Bachelorette yet (or even a cast member), so... 

Fat suits are, unfortunately, nothing new to television (see: Fat Monica on Friends) but with all the awareness that these portrayals are so harmful to people in the fat community why, oh, why does it keep happening? Why does the entertainment industry keep insisting on not hiring fat actors to play fat roles? 

Just last year Sarah Paulson received criticism for wearing a fat suit to play Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story and responded to the backlash saying that she not only regretted the decision, but she'd never do something like it again.(You can see the quotes here, in which she also points out that fat phobia is, duh, very much a real thing: 

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/08/sarah-paulson-regrets-fat-suit-linda-tripp-1234660765/

So someone please explain to me how we're here YET AGAIN, this time with Renee Zellweger in a fat suit for the new true crime drama The Thing About Pam? Never mind that the actress played "fat" (lol ok) in the Bridget Jones movies, but now she's doing this? Make it make sense! Why haven't actors picked up on the fact that this is deeply insensitive and they just shouldn't do it? I'm tired!

How are fat suits still a thing?!