Disney has responded to a complaint from one of its former stars regarding jokes which appear to make light of eating disorders.
Photo: Empics
Demi Lovato, who left the Disney sitcom Sonny with a Chance due to her own experiences with an eating disorder and self-harming, took to Twitter to call the corporation out over the line "I could just eat you up, well if I ate," from the channel's show Shake It Up.
Lovato tweeted the quote to her 5.3 million followers asking "What are we promoting here? #notfunnyATALL". The star then proceeded to reference her own struggles: " I find it really funny how a company can lose one of their actress' from the pressures of an EATING DISORDER and yet still make joke about.. ...that very disease..... #nice."
A fellow tweeter also highlighted a similar line from another Disney series, So Random.
The Disney Channel's PR account was swift to respond stating that both of the offending episodes had been pulled for re-evaluation and that "It's NEVER our intention to make light of eating disorders!"
You can see the full exchange below: