Lesego Legobane wasn’t always as confident as she is today. (@ThickLeeyonce/Lesego Legobane)
A South African model’s epic Twitter takedown of a body shamer has made her trend beyond the country’s borders. User @imleyton dissed Lesego Legobane — also known as @ThickLeeyonce — by using her as an example of the curvy women who want to date him but aren’t his type.
Little did @imleyton, whose real name is Leyton Mokgerepi, know, Legobane was prepared with the simple yet epic clapback.
“He had to know his place,” the body-positive model, blogger and photographer told BuzzFeed News Tuesday. Sept. 20. “So I decided to reply because I felt he was being rude.”
Quickly, users began celebrating Legobane’s bold response.
— dr.babyhands (@molly9_xo) September 20, 2017
Right! I was like yesssssssssssssssssssss sis. TELL. HIS. ASS.
— Monique Judge (@thejournalista) September 19, 2017
— Ngwane | Sogodi (@iinhlonipho) September 19, 2017
Many others were pumped that the tweet became a trending topic in Canada. Legobane even had the likes of Nicki Minaj, Ava DuVernay and pop star Arianna Grande like her uber-confident response.
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“I hate it when men think that fat girls are desperate and that we like every other guy cos ‘we don’t have options,'” Legobane wrote on Instagram Wednesday, Sept. 20. “First of all, check yourself. So this guy tried it and it seems that my response tweet went viral … I don’t think I’ll know how to act this whole week. #FatAndStillOuttaYourLeague”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZQXqHEHRU5/?hl=en
Mokgerepi attempted to smooth over his tweet with this.
https://twitter.com/imleyton/status/910221350559780869
But the damage had already been done.
“I had no idea it would get so much attention,” Legobane told Ireland’s BreakingNews.ie. “I’m overwhelmed by the love from people from all over the world, it’s so sweet! I’ve been getting DMs from women thanking me for embracing my body and loving myself.”
However, Legobane hasn’t always been so confident. Growing up, she didn’t see herself represented in the media she consumed.
“The Black girls would always be skinny and light-skinned, and these were people I couldn’t relate to,” she told DestinyConnect.com in 2015. “This made me wonder about myself and my worth as a Black girl.”
The confidence wasn’t instant, but eventually, after much practice, Legobane feels confident in herself.
“For a while, I had to fake it — I had to fake that confidence. One can’t just wake up and say ‘From today, I’m a confident person’ — it’s a long journey and you can’t wait for the confidence to come by itself. I faked ’til it eventually became real,” said Legobane.
