Dove teams with fat liberation activist who staged hate hoax, got white student expelled over false allegations

Health and beauty brand Dove has teamed up with fat liberation activist Zyahna Bryant notoriously and publicly alleged that a fellow student called BLM activists "speed bump" during the riots of 2020 and claimed that student intended to run those activists over.

Now Bryant, who has been awarded with many accolades and opportunities since manufacturing that hate hoax, has a new partner in Dove. The affiliation with Bryant is to help Dove promote their latest "fat liberation" campaign. But Bryant, as many have pointed out, was responsible for the ruination of Morgan Bettinger entire life. 

Bettinger never called BLM activists "speed bumps," she never called police on protesters, and she never attempted to nor wanted to run any of her fellow students over that summer. Yet Bryant, simply by saying so on social media, absolutely destroyed Bettinger. Bettinger was expelled from school and the false allegations have continued to haunt her. She was tormented, bullied, called that most vile of all contemporary insults— "racist"— and it was all a vicious lie spread by Bryant.


Zyahna Bryant speaking at the BLM rally in August 2020

Bryant now reaps the rewards, and her Instagram account is chock full of her self-praise. To top it off, she believes that she is "marginalized," despite having an outsized voice and numerous partnerships with high-profile non-profits and brands.

"My belief is that we should be centering the voices and experiences of the most marginalized people and communities at all times," Bryant says.

"So when I think about what fat liberation looks like to me," Bryant continues, "it looks like centering the voices and the experiences of those who live in and who maneuver through spaces and institutions in a fat body." In other words, it means centering herself.

"It looks like making accessible spaces," Bryant states, as though being overweight is akin to any other kind of disability, "and having conversations that are aware of the fact that people have different bodies and that they are interacting with space and people and institutions and communities in a different way." In so saying, she means herself.

"Fat liberation," she goes on, "looks like fully embracing those differences and having those conversations instead of shying away from them." Bryant then offered ways to "learn more about fat liberation and the campaign for size freedom."

"This is important and we should all be talking about it," said Bryant.


Zyahna Bryant, Instagram

While she is more than eager to spread awareness about herself, Bryant was used these same social media platforms to destroy the life of Bettinger. Her flimsy accusations of racism against Bettinger, resulting in total disaster for Bettinger, have had no impact on Bryant's ability to attain partnerships and accolades for her fatness and BLM activism. Bryant, who was exposed as a liar only after Bettinger's life was destroyed, has gone on to essentially be praised for having lied about a student.

In July 2020, Bryant accused Bettinger of stating that BLM activists would make, "good f*cking speed bumps" during a local BLM street protest. The accusation that immediately went viral, despite no evidence that Bettinger ever made these claims. Bryant shot the aftermath of her accusation, and had absolutely no evidence to back up her claims against Bettinger.

In the videos Bryant shared, BLM agitators surround Bettinger's car as she attempts to drive away, those individuals all believing what Bryant claimed to have heard, based on her word alone. The agitators, along with Bryant, torment Bettinger, calling her a "Karen" while echoing the baseless accusations that she stated they would make "good speed bumps" not once, but twice. 

Local media that picked up the story and ran with it. They compared Bettinger's remarks to the kind rhetoric evident in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottsville, Virg., during which 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed, only a couple blocks away from the protest where BLM agitator's surrounded Bettinger's car. 

No video of Bettinger ever making these statements was recorded and Bettinger denied vehemently ever saying anything of that kind.

According to Bettinger, as she was driving home from work she saw a dump truck blocking the road, standing between traffic and a BLM protest. She got out of her vehicle and the driver of the truck began to converse with her about the protest. Bettinger praised the driver of the truck for protecting the protesters, saying "It's a good thing that you are here, because otherwise these people would have been speed bumps." 

Bryant misheard, brought others to surround Bettinger, and by the next day, went on a campaign to get Bettinger expelled. She urged students to send mass email complaints to the administration to get Bettinger off campus.

Without proof, Bettinger was formally sanctioned by UVA and expelled from the university, which hindered her future plans to go to law school. Two separate investigations and a court trial which concluded a year later revealed that Bryant had made up the whole thing. Yet Bryant, a false accuser, now has a future head of her in fat liberation with Dove, while Bettinger is still grappling with what happened to her.

While Bettinger faced severe consequences and had her reputation and future career destroyed, Bryant has only received praise from mainstream media outlets, such as the Washington Post, and has since partnered with many other large businesses, facing seemingly zero consequences for the part she played in perpetuating this hoax.

"Started my week with announcing my partnership with Dove, and now ending my week with my FIRST PHD PROGRAM ACCEPTANCE!!" Bryant tweeted. 

Bryant is also still actively using her Instagram for her activism, consistently posting content surrounding support of "black queer folks," "believing all black women" and now has a hefty role to play in the "fat liberation" movement.

Bryant has been highlighted by the "Women Empowering Nations", a non-profit organization that claims to provide "exposure, development and mentorship for girls of color in underserved communities to accelerate their path to executive leadership." Bryant has been promoted as one of the "members" of their 2023 "Girls Leading Our World Global Cohort," sponsored by major hair care line, Cantu Beauty.

Bryant came to fame through using her activism and her large presence to target and destroy the life of a white student. 

Bryant speaks about being marginalized, accepts praise for being from an "underserved community," and demands everyone lift her up and make extra space for her in their understanding of life experience, but in fact, she has more power and privilege than many could dream of. 

A white woman had her life destroyed by maliciously false allegations, meanwhile the black woman who made them, has not only faced zero consequence, but is now being promoted and paid to work with major brands.