What actually is a bimbo?
In the popular (read: patriarchal) imagination, a blonde with big breasts, quite simply. Proof of this is that, from yesterday's Pamela Anderson to today's Sydney Sweeney, there are many stars who tackle this stereotype imagined by men, denounce it or even more, ironically reappropriate it, to better point out sexism, by assuming their body and their sexuality publicly. This is the case of Sydney Sweeney, who plays on other people's expectations and clichés by aligning jokes with her breasts, considered “too big”.
Even if it means irreverently praising her “tremendous breasts”. So that others don't do it.
But the bimbo, more generally, designates a woman considered by the public – and even more so the male public – as “too good, too stupid”. Yes, subtlety often stops at the crossroads. And in this context, there is unfortunately no shortage of examples of public and media harassment. We could cite the entire Kardashian clan. And, in terms of impact, their French version: Nabilla, icon of French reality TV from the 2010s, fond of shampoo and above all, of self-deprecation.
A decade ago, Nabilla was like a scapegoat. The easy, obvious object of the most widespread jokes, between “benevolent” sexism (if this specimen exists) and uninhibited misogyny. But people “had the right” because “it’s Nabilla”. It seems. And this is when the shortest jokes are the best.
And a sequence on this subject, ridiculing the screen star, continues to be shared, more than 10 years later. A true cult and improbable moment. Mythical, to the point of being once again the subject of debate on the set of Quelle époque, Léa Salamé's show. And get the main person concerned to react directly…
“Don’t you understand?”, “Stupid”, “Embarrassing”: Nabilla reacts to this “cult” but above all sexist sequence of the “Canal spirit”
It was the “Canal spirit”.
Surf on a media phenomenon and throw some witticisms at it. In 2013, this is what columnist Stéphane de Groodt did opposite Nabilla, or Nabilla Benattia-Vergara by her full name, in “Le Supplement” on Canal+. The comedian known for his facetious language and his more or less convincing linguistic jokes then continues pun after pun. Like Desproges, but Grand Journal version.
Nabilla’s reaction? “I don't understand anything!“. Embarrassment on the set, which suddenly takes the form of a gigantic “idiot's dinner” (feminine) whose main guest would, naturally, be the reality TV star. In 2025, Léa Salamé takes the sequence out of the drawer, everyone laughs (again) and Stéphane de Groodt himself is very proud of it. This scene did a lot for his career as an actor, to hear him: too bad for Nabilla. has not changed, therefore.
-And the discomfort doesn't stop there…
Because this time, more than 10 years later, Nabilla finally reacts to the column.
Winking in support, she goes with her ironic tweet: “What an incredible moment, I hope one day you will finally explain to me…“. This is a reference to his own reaction, live, in 2013 on Canal (“Can I have an earpiece to translate because I don't understand anything?“). But as you can imagine, the sexists are out. Anthology: “You still haven't understood his column lol?”, “It's a man's thing shall we say..”, “it's just a moment of embarrassment between 2 idiots”, “Stupid woman”, “You explaining is one thing, being able to understand is another…“.
Unfortunately for Nabilla, there are apparently only Nobel Prize winners on Twitter.
However, others value him more. “Ah, my big girl, no need to act stupid, don't do it to me, you're much smarter than you seem“, reacts an Internet user. QED.
While the public of yesterday and today seems to feast on a so-called “idiot” proclaimed as such (even though it has been expressed over the years on feminism, sexist violence, and even the Mazan trial), others seem more lucid about the nature of a media spectacle which, despite feminist advances, always seems to recycle the same hackneyed mechanisms. And not the most respectful.
Even though there was apparently “genius” in there.
Funny cognitive shift at a time when even Paris Hilton tackles the misogynistic relentlessness against bimbos. And there goes his salutary punchline “I'm not a stupid blonde, I just know how to make it seem really good!“. A tirade that would fit Nabilla like a glove, who for some unknown reason still seems to fascinate narrow-minded people in search of sexism. Should we laugh or cry about it?
