Nicole Arbour

Nicole Arbour is a Canadian actress, choreographer, comedian, dancer, musician, singer and writer from Hamilton, Ontario.

Arbour is a former cheerleader for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association. As an actress, Arbour appeared in Howie Do It, and Silent But Deadly. Arbour's single "Bang Bang" was released on April 30, 2013. On June 18, 2015, her single and music video to "Fun Revolution" was released and was the first Periscope music video to debut. In April 2015, Arbour was nominated as a finalist for "Best Comedian" for the Shorty Awards however lost to Hannibal Buress.

Arbour's brand of cheerleader meets motivational speaker was the foundation of her #GoTeam movement. After suffering from a devastating car accident that left her in chronic pain, she used her disdain for the word "disabled" to motivate her to get better.

"Dear Fat People"

In September 2015, Arbour became the subject of controversy when she posted a viral video on her YouTube channel titled "Dear Fat People." Critics argue the video endorses fat shaming. The video was temporarily unavailable on YouTube, over claims that it violated the YouTube terms of service, but was later restored.

Arbour was the subject of both public and celebrity criticism, with model Ashley Graham labelling her comments as "downright disgusting". Director Pat Mills fired Arbour from an upcoming movie after seeing the video and was quoted via several sources, “I’m gay. I was bullied a lot as a kid. I am no stranger to ridicule and loneliness... It’s fat-phobic and awful. It went on for over six minutes. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I was so upset I was shaking like Shelley Duvall in The Shining,”. On September 10, 2015, Arbour, via Twitter denied ever having any form of involvement in the film.

Soon after the video, Arbour was fired from her job where she was a choreographer for an anti-bullying video for kids. The director of the film she was hired to work on said it "made me never want to see her again.".

On September 16, 2015, Arbour appeared on The View to defend her actions in the "Dear Fat People" video, stating while on the show "that video was made to offend people...it's just satire," and that the video wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. TIME cited an interview stating, "Arbour doesn’t see her comments as bullying, but rather an intense form of truth-telling". Arbour was quoted defending her actions, “I find seeing someone’s head being blown off offensive,” she said. “I find children starving in a country with more than enough food offensive. I find women’s bodies being mutilated for religious purposes, that is offensive to me. But words and satire I don’t find offensive."

Domestic abuse allegations

On January 11, 2016, YouTube personality Matthew Santoro posted "My Abuse Story", a video in which he claimed he'd been in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship with Arbour. The video was originally set to private after Santoro ended the relationship but was accidentally made public. He decided to keep it that way after receiving support from fans. Santoro claimed he was manipulated into isolating himself from his friends and family because of Arbour’s jealousy, and was later even punched in the face. Arbour responded via a YouTube post stating "Heard the little bitch I dumped months ago is still trying to use me to get attention on his vlog channel. Ew."