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"New York Observer film critic Rex Reed has defended his recent comments about Melissa McCarthy. Reed recently caused controversy by describing the actress as a &amp;quot;female hippo&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;tractor-sized&amp;quot; in his review for her new film Identity Thief.  He told WOR-AM in New York that his words were &amp;quot;what sold tickets&amp;quot;, helping Identity Thief grab $36.6 million at the box office in its opening weekend. He said: &amp;quot;I object to using health issues like obesity as comedy talking points. That&amp;#039;s what this girl does, this Melissa. &amp;quot;I have too many friends that have died of obesity-related illnesses, heart problems and diabetes... I don&amp;#039;t find this to be the subject of a lot of humour.&amp;quot; He added: &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t make me a villain, [McCarthy] is crying all the way to the bank.&amp;quot; He also said that McCarthy has remained &amp;quot;completely classy&amp;quot; for staying silent on the incident.  In his original review, Reed had written: &amp;quot;Melissa McCarthy is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success. &amp;quot;Poor Jason Bateman. How did an actor so charming, talented, attractive and versatile get stuck in so much dreck?&amp;quot; Bridesmaids director Paul Feig recently responded to Reed&amp;#039;s comments, telling him to &amp;quot;go f**k himself&amp;quot;. Watch a trailer for Identity Thief below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a458953/melissa-mccarthy-critic-rex-reed-defends-hippo-comments/>