Telling a friend they have body odor is always a hard conversation, but doing it publicly is probably the worst way to go about it.

So when a man decided the most direct route to addressing a friend’s strong body odor was a message in the shared group chat rather than a private conversation, his friend showed up to the next hangout upset — and the rest of the group quickly took sides.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for asking my friend to wear deodorant?

I (M) hang out with a regular group of friends — Daniel, Marcus, Chloe, Emma, and Rakesh. We usually meet up every couple of weeks, nothing fancy, just hanging out, getting food, and catching up.

The last time we all got together, I noticed pretty quickly that Rakesh had really strong body odor.

Not just normal sweat — it was strong enough that it was hard to ignore when sitting near him.

He decided to be strategic about his timing on bringing this up.

I didn’t say anything in the moment because I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of everyone.

A few days later we were planning our next hangout in the group chat. I went back and forth on whether to say anything, but I figured it’s better to be direct than passive-aggressive.

So direct he was.

So I messaged in the group chat something like: “Rakesh, can you please wear deodorant next time — last time you smelled pretty bad.”

He didn’t reply at all, which I thought was a bit awkward, but I assumed he’d just take it on board and that would be the end of it.

Rakesh decided to be direct back.

When we met up again, everything seemed normal at first — but then Rakesh brought it up in front of everyone.

He was clearly upset and asked why I would call him out like that. He said I could have said it privately.

He said it was humiliating and that I put him on the spot.

He begins to downplay Rakesh’s feelings.

That turned into a whole discussion. I said I didn’t think it needed to be a big deal and that it’s basic hygiene.

I also said I didn’t want to have an awkward one-on-one conversation about it, and being direct felt simpler.

Marcus backed me up and said he noticed it too last time, so it wasn’t just me.

The other half of the friend group took Rakesh’s side.

But Chloe, Emma, and Daniel all said they hadn’t noticed anything and thought I was being rude. They also dismissed Marcus agreeing with me, saying he was just siding with me because we’re close.

At the same time, I feel like him smelling is embarrassing for me by association if I’m with him in public.

Now everyone is frustrated.

That part annoyed me because it felt like they just decided our opinions didn’t count.

It turned into them saying I should have handled it privately, and me saying that either way it’s uncomfortable — and at least this way it was clear.

Now the group feels kind of tense. Rakesh is still upset, and the others think I crossed a line — while I feel like I just said something that needed to be said.

Maybe a conversation like this would have been best had in private.

What did Reddit think?

What he did was just plain cruel.

This man’s logic makes absolutely no sense.

What Rakesh deserves now is an apology.

This user shares how big of an impact a humane, private conversation can have.

At the end of the day, this situation was completely mishandled.

This wasn’t direct — it was just plain cruel.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.