Josh Peck is asking that people "move on" from the obsession surrounding his weight loss with a TikTok video that has nearly 60 million views as of Thursday morning.
The former Drake and Josh star spent his childhood acting on Nickelodeon where he was known for having a fuller figure and portraying the goofy counterpart to Drake Bell. But after losing a significant amount of weight as he grew up, the 34-year-old is now pleading that people stop poking fun at images of him as a child.
"Well I wake up in the morning and I see a meme. It's a picture of me when I weighed 315 and I scream from the top of my lungs, 'Can we just move on?! Please!" Peck sang to the tune of "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.
Peck captioned the video, "I guess I'm the one who keeps bringing it up..." poking fun at himself and the prior videos he's made about his younger persona.
Although much has changed for the actor, who is also now a father to a nearly 3-year-old son, Peck has been open in the past about using humor as a form of self-defense when it came to his weight. "If I thought a kid was going to make fun of me, I might make fun of myself first," he told USA Today in 2004. According to his YouTube channel, where he's posted a number of videos about eating — including one where he ate all of the food that he did as a young kid — Peck continues to make jokes about his weight, even after slimming down.
Still, the jokes can be harmful.
"Gratuitous fat jokes always hurt, no matter what," he said in 2014. "Even if you've gotten it most of your life, and even if it's in the context of the script, it makes you feel bad about yourself."
Luckily, Peck received countless positive responses to his latest viral TikTok, including those that called him an "icon."
"I get you want to move on from that but you are literally an inspiration to tons of people," one person commented.
And while he remains one of few male actors who has chosen to acknowledge his weight and embrace the work that he's put into his weight loss journey, Peck's story certainly is inspiring to many — similarly to that of Jonah Hill.
"I think a lot of the silence comes down to toxic masculinity," Virgie Tovar, one of the nation's leading experts and lecturers on fat discrimination and body image, previously told Yahoo Life of the lack of conversations around body image being had by men.
Still, as issues around body image persist for young boys and men, the more they're talked about by high-profile celebrities, the less shame others may feel.
"Some of us are you from back then and see you now and it's easier for us to cope and have hope," someone commented on Peck's post. "Here's to my glow up bud."
