Inclusive songstress receives backlash for unintentional ableist lyrics
Lizzo Beating has always advocated and strived for inclusivity not just for race but for all aspects of diversity her particular mission has been to ensure people are open minded about what she refers to as (big girls) and proudly refers to herself as “a fat black woman in America.”
Her new song “Grrrls” which was released last week has disappointed her fans as it reportedly contains a slur commonly used to attack those with disabilities.
There has been a number of unhappy fans instructing Lizzo to “do better” regarding the ableist slur of “spaz” an abbreviation for the term spastic.
Other fans revealed they were “shocked” and even “disappointed” with the popstar for including the lyric.
One fan Hannah Diviney tweeted to Lizzo explaining why people were getting so upset over the lyric how her cerebral palsy condition is “classified as spastic diplegic cerebral palsy which means that I have spasticity or tightness in my legs specifically.
Lizzo has since taken accountability for the use of the lyric and has now reworked the song with haste changing the original lyric to “hold me back”.
It is quite understandable why fans were upset by the lyric however it is unfair for Lizzo to receive so much backlash and criticism over a slur that has previously been used in music to allude to the loss of control or just going wild.
The song “FourFiveSeconds” by legend Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye West also contains the lyric “hold me back I’m bout’ to spaz” which is vocalized by Kanye West prior to the songs chorus and did not receive nearly as much backlash as Lizzo’s latest release has.
In addition, a number of American rap artists such as future, Nicki Minaj and Lil Durk use the slur and Future uses the slur as a lyric quite often so it is really no wonder that Lizzo saw no harm in including the lyric in her original version of “Grrrls”.
The backlash received is understandable however, the extent of it is not.
Lizzo prides herself on advocating and championing inclusivity and would never “promote the use of derogatory language” intentionally and really and truly her fans should take on board that she meant no harm by including the lyric.
In response to the criticism that she received over the weekend she took to twitter to defend herself but also take ownership of her mistake. Releasing the following statement.
Lizzo is set to release her newest studio album on July 15th and as a fan of her work I can only hope that the fans stay mindful of who she is and what she stands for when they listen to the rest of her upcoming music and do not allow this one mistake to change their perspective of Lizzo as a person. As she said she is "dedicated to being the change" she has been waiting to see in the world and I for one admire that aspiration.
Do you think Lizzo should have received the backlash she did for an honest mistake when other artists can include the slur as a lyric unapologetically?