Bad Diabetes Jokes Wall of Shame

Editor’s Note: This list includes only brands, publications and public figures. We know there are plenty of individuals out there making bad jokes, too. 

Diabetes is not the punchline of a joke. Drinking a beverage did not give anyone any type of diabetes. We’re calling on these folks to do better. And watch out—we won’t hesitate to add new offenders to the Wall of Shame!

We’re all about mixing humor and diabetes—sometimes, all you can do is laugh at life with type 1 diabetes (T1D). But these types of jokes are the worst reminder of how much work there is still to do in education. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are poorly understood. These tasteless jokes come from a lack of education, awareness and understanding. They fuel our fire to keep fighting! 

And now, our list:

OFFENDER: Jimmy Kimmel

OFFENSE: “sweeter than diabetes” tweet 

Dude. Doesn’t your child have a chronic health problem, too? T1D parents (and the rest of us) don’t want to be the butt of your jokes.

OFFENDER: Forbes

OFFENSE: marketing’s e-mail subject line fail 

No Halloween treat gave anyone diabetes, are we clear?

OFFENDER: SNL

OFFENSE: Big Mac BS skit

SNL actually wrote two versions of this joke. Neither of them were good. A Beyond Type 1 community mama wrote a great response to this one—you can read the whole thing here.

OFFENDER: PopSugar Magazine

OFFENSE: Unicorn Frappuccino nonsense

PopSugar did end up changing this headline in response to pressure from the diabetes online community (high-five, y’all!) but boy, was it bad. We demand better from a “Fitness” and “Health” publication.

OFFENDER: Crossfit

OFFENSE: epically bad attempt at a Public Health PSA

This one even got co-founder Nick Jonas to respond. No wonder—it’s SO distasteful, besides being factually incorrect. Crossfit, thank you for this attempt at a public health PSA, but you really screwed it up. No chronic illness deserves this BS.