Little People, Big World star Matt Roloff responded to the ongoing protests against racism by sharing an inspirational quote on Instagram Tuesday and opened a can of worms in the comments section. One of his followers accused him of showing his “white privilege,” and Roloff quickly fired back. Roloff disagreed, calling the comment an “uninformed thing” to write because he has faced adversity as a little person.
“Practice gentleness, seek truth, give up anger, do not slander, and have compassion for all beings,” reads the quote Roloff shared. “Be gentle, be modest, and useful to others.” In the caption, Roloff reminded his fans that “we live in times of opportunity to do better. I’m in!” While this was meant to be a positive message, one person responded with, “Careful Matt, your white privileged is showing.”
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Roloff quickly responded, telling the user “that’s probably the most uninformed thing you can say to another human of profound short stature.” As Roloff noted, little people “are not ‘privileged’ (as in born privileged) regardless of their skin color.” They “have to fight for every inch they get,” he added. “What a cruel thing to say to someone who has fought hard to overcome all the adversity life has to offer… [a] community that struggles with so much bullying, discrimination, teasing, unemployment. Shame on you!”
Most of Roloff’s fans praised him for the response and agreed the commenter shared a rude remark. “What a disgusting thing to say to anyone,” one person wrote. However, another fan called out Roloff for not explicitly voicing support for Black Lives Matter and accused him of “no wanting to rock the boat with your core conservative audience.” The fan said they were “so disappointed with you and your family,” except for Roloff’s son, Jacob Roloff.
Jacob, who has not appeared on LPBW since 2016, has shared several posts supporting Black Lives Matter following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. On June 2, Jacob shared a list of organizations to donate to, questions people can ask themselves about race and ways people can take action. Jacob later shared quotes from W.E.B. DuBois’ Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil and C.L.R. James’ A New Notion.
Jacob tagged his family in his first June 2 post, hoping they would reshare their posts. “Tagging my family (those with great followings) because they have majority White audiences who desperately require a call to solidarity with these protesters and dissenters,” Jacob wrote. However, they did not. His sisters-in-law Tori Roloff and Audrey Roloff and brother Jeremy Roloff did participate in Blackout Tuesday on Instagram though.
