https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/stephen-nolan-thrown-out-of-fry-cafe-after-confrontation-with-owner-over-online-post-mocking-obese-people/a1112961045.html

Liam Tunney
Today at 11:50

Stephen Nolan has been thrown out of a cafe in east Belfast on Tuesday morning after confronting the owner about his comments on social media targeting obese people using mobility scooters.

The content was posted to the Facebook and Instagram accounts of east Belfast eatery Belfast Breakfast Baps on Sunday afternoon.

Mark Young is listed on Companies House as the sole director of the company, which was incorporated in April last year.

It’s like we are not considered as people any more – Dermot Devlin

The post featured a photo of a mobility scooter, with a caption reading: “If you’re in one of these because you’re morbidly obese please know you are not disabled, you’re fat and probably not very useful.

"It most definitely is your fault. Thyroid issues are workable and you are taking away resources from those who actually deserve not (sic).

"How about park the mobility scooter and walk fatty and maybe even eventually run.”

Despite the criticism, Belfast Breakfast Baps’ menu yesterday featured a large fry, a £9 ‘Goliath’ bap containing two sausages, two slices of bacon, two eggs, and black or white pudding, and a sausage and bacon potato bread stack.

The post has been shared on Facebook more than 260 times, attracting over 573 comments.

On Tuesday morning, BBC’s Stephen Nolan went to the business but was thrown out and allegedly called a “Covid chaser” by owner Mark Young.

Nolan also claimed that he told one of his colleagues: “Nolan is two stone off a mobility scooter himself.”

A video posted on the business's Facebook page appears to show Nolan being asked to leave the premises.

A caption posted with the video read: “When Nolan shows up to stir the pot he was put out.

"Wouldn’t want him about the place under any circumstances.”

Dermot Devlin, founder of disability rights organisation My Way Access, said the post was symptomatic of a wider environment where disabled people were becoming the butt of jokes.

"For this company to come out and laugh, mock and abuse people that are overweight and use mobility scooters is a disgrace,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"It feels like it’s feeding into a wider narrative. The Assisted Dying Act, the welfare cuts coming through Westminster.

"This is a side effect of it, because other people pick up on that and feel like it’s proper and right to comment on these issues in this way.

"Body shaming is an absolute disgrace anyway, but there could also be weight issues related to hidden disabilities, not being able to exercise, thyroid issues, maybe mental health problems, fibromyalgia.”

Mr Devlin also said Mr Young may have been cynically levering the rage caused by the post to boost engagement with his business.

“I’ve seen people challenging it and he was putting up more posts mocking them. He has got loads of engagement from that, but it shows again what has happened in recent years,” he said.

"We feel more and more isolated and are now becoming the butt of jokes. People are mocking and laughing.

"Businesses it seems are now going down that route and people that you would consider friends, you can see them laughing at these posts and saying they agree.

"It’s very upsetting seeing people that you thought were ‘allies’ engaging in this in this fashion.

"With everything that is happening in politics, we are feeling more and more disenfranchised as a community and it’s like we are not considered as people any more.

"Some people might be reading this and saying “don’t be so melodramatic’ but I can tell you how much pain and hurt we are experiencing now.”

When approached by this newspaper, Mr Young said his post was “not aimed at the disabled”.

"As the post clearly states it’s aimed at the fat people who use them and take away vital resources,” he said.

"Unlike disabled folk, who have a genuine need for them, they could walk and lose weight. Anyway, it is what it is and people have and can take whatever they want from it.

"Our charitable side of the business, and the lengths we go to to support the local food bank, offering free school breakfast in January and free Christmas dinners on Christmas Day should be all the evidence required for people to know we are a business with a heart.”

Asked to comment on whether he accepted those with obesity may have underlying disabilities that leave them unable to exercise effectively, Mr Young added: “I’ve said all I need to say. Much love.”

by pickneyboy3000

31 comments

  2. After seeing a video of what that prick was cooking months ago I’m surprised he’s still going

  3. Aye, he’ll take on the bap shop, but sure as hell won’t take on the patriarchal medical system that’s resulting in young women all over the north not being diagnosed with cancer until it’s too late.

    Priorities in line I see.

  4. 200 shares and 500 facebook comments? Fuck me it’s a wonder I never saw it with engagement numbers like that.

    /s

  5. I didn’t read everything but to be honest, if he got thrown out for confronting them over such a disgusting sign, fair play to him.

    Like it’s one thing having an opinion about fat people. It’s another thing being a dick about it.

  6. Hardly thrown out. Looked like the employee/manager (whoever) opened the door and told him to leave. Then Nolan and his iPhone left.

  7. After reading the story, there are no heroes in this one.

  8. It’s remarkable the overlap in the venn diagram of ignorant fucks with ignorant opinions and people who use the phrase ‘it is what it is.’

  11. Always good to see a man sticking up for his tribe 😂

  12. Did Nolan get thrown out because they didn’t have enough breakfast baps to satisfy his appetite?

  15. Nolan obviously conflicted on whether to engage in yellow journalism or get himself a fry when he’s there. Assuming he ordered takeaway for getting thrown out?

  16. Had the place on my to try list but he can shove his baps up his bangle after all this carry on. Could have posted his unwanted opinion on his own socials for his fellow meat heads to all agree on. To do it on your own business page is always a mistake and this has proven as such. No way I’d want to give someone like that my money for what looks like bog standard very unhealthy food. The fact he runs a place that knocks out horribly unhealthy food and then goes on to insult overweight people is incredible. Pot kettle black comes to mind.

    Yes this may have gotten the place on the news and widely known but I don’t think it’s going to have the desired effect of increasing the customer base. I reckon it’s going to do the exact opposite.

    I don’t like Nolan in the slightest but if the owner is going to make daft post’s on social media and then double down then proceed to block anyone that pushes back or comes looking for an explanation comes across as more snowflake than them claiming others are exactly that.

    Personally I’ll never darken the door. Plenty of cracking cafés nearby anyway.

  17. The owner of that place is clearly a cunt and the food looks brutal, those sausages look horrendous.

  18. Just having a look at the comments on Belfast Live etcetera in support of the fry cafe and the owner and it says it all really,the absolute dregs of society making comments not fit for print, best avoided.

  19. Dermot Devlin hit the nail on the head perfectly with his comments on it.

    I’m disabled. I’m autistic and have debilitating back pain. I’ve always been a bigger girl and before my back went, I had no bother taking the dog on 10k walks all the time. But then my back got injured and now walking for 15 minutes has me in agony.
    So if im groccery shopping, on a bad day I need to use a mobility scooter and I feel mortified doing so, so always order online instead. I feel mortified because of people like Mark Young who just see an overweight person on a scooter and mock me, without knowing anything about me. The way people stare, it’s not worth it.
    It’s an incredibly isolating feeling as not being able to do something simple like get grocceries, because it costs me a reason to get out of the house, exercise what muscles and I can and get to talk with some people while I’m out and about.
    When I do get out and about, I typically have my cane and in Belfast city centre, it’s shocking the amount of people who crowd me, shove past me etc compared to Glasgow city centre where I’m never shoved and people gave me space and patience.

    But then on the autistic side of things. I’ve seen such a massive rise in the use of the R-slur for people with additional needs. Then other people are using autistic, accoustic and other words as insults in place of the R-slur. I’m hearing it from people I thought were allies and it does sting. It makes me feel small and incredibly stupid, when I’m a reasonably intelligent person ( academically, i just struggle with social cues). It’s really isolating to hang out in groups with that kind of language and then you don’t want to hang out with those people anymore and your world just gets smaller.

    We need to be more compassionate towards others, have empathy and patience for others. It feels like the world is on fire at a time where commradery and community are what will get us through it.

  20. fuk sake, i want a massive bap now, and for a strange reason a row with a rotund person

  21. Can’t haveNolan but fair play to him in this regard, people deserve to be confronted when they post hateful shit online.

  23. Yer man is picking the wrong fight if he’s taking Nolan on.

    My missus has bad arthritis and her mobility has gone downhill very badly in the past couple of years, she used to be very active and we used to enjoy going for walks and bike rides together. She’s not a sodahole by any means but no matter if she dropped down to a size 8 it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference because she’s not going to get better. Ever.

    I hope yer man’s ego gets the better of him and he goes on Nolan’s show. It’d be the most public business suicide since Ratner and his “total crap” remark

  24. I am disabled and now I certainly won’t be ordering from him.

    I hope Stephen gave him a ballacking!

  25. Sooner both these men are out of business the better

  27. How many Goliath Baps did big Stevie eat before he left?

  29. Mans obviously a scumbag but the comment about Nolan being two stone away from a scooter himself had me 🤣🤣🤣

  31. Nolan the bum bandit he woulda loved it if he was thrown out a man touching him 

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