Jennifer Lawrence: 'It should be illegal to call someone fat on TV'

Jennifer Lawrence is calling for the word "fat" to be banned from TV, because she insists it is as damaging to young generations as cigarettes and profanities.

The Hunger Games star believes the term amounts to a form of bullying and claims it is thrown around too loosely in the press, so she is urging TV broadcasting officials to take a stand.

In an interview for the upcoming TV special Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013, she says, "Why is humiliating people funny? I get it, and, and I do it too, we all do it. (But) the media needs to take responsibility for the affect that it has on our younger generation, on these girls who are watching these television shows, and picking up how to talk and how to be cool...

"And the word fat, I just think it should be illegal to call somebody fat on TV. I mean, if we're regulating cigarettes and sex and cuss words, because of the affect they have on our younger generation, why aren't we regulating things like calling people fat?"

The full interview airs on Wednesday (18Dec13), but it's not the first time Lawrence has spoken out about the issue.

Last month (Nov13), she criticised catty comedienne Joan Rivers for judging celebrities based on their appearance on her reality show Fashion Police, claiming the idea of the programme teaches youths the "wrong values".

Lawrence said, "There are shows like the Fashion Police that are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on all the wrong values and that it's OK to point at people and call them ugly or fat. We have to stop treating each other like that and stop calling each other fat."

Rivers subsequently hit back at the comment via Twitter.com, accusing the Oscar winner of "arrogance".