Lizzo Forced To Change ‘GRRRLS’ Lyrics After People Point Out “Ableist” Slur
If you’re one of those people who get triIIIIIiiiiiigggggggEErrrered by “PC Culture” you might want to step away from this article.
World wide pop star Lizzo released a brand new single titled ‘Grrrls‘ back on June 10, to promote her upcoming ‘Special’ album, which will be her fourth studio album. It’s expected to be released July 15, 2022.
But she may want to comb through the songs one more time before releasing them, just in case she has another “trigger word” being hidden in the lyrics.
You see, in this new ‘Grrrls’ track, there was a line in the song that said…
Hold my bag, bitch. Hold my bag/ Do you see this s—?/ I’m a spaz/ I’m about to knock somebody out/ Yo, where my best friend?/ She the only one I know to talk me off the deep end.
“Spaz” is considered to be an ableist slur these days. Several people on Twitter called Lizzo out for using the word, including this Twitter user, who was standing up for herself and other people suffering with Cerebral Palsy…
Hey @lizzo my disability Cerebral Palsy is literally classified as Spastic Diplegia (where spasticity refers to unending painful tightness in my legs) your new song makes me pretty angry + sad. ‘Spaz’ doesn’t mean freaked out or crazy. It’s an ableist slur. It’s 2022. Do better.
— Hannah Diviney (@hannah_diviney) June 12, 2022
After hearing the outrage, Lizzo went on her socials Monday, June 13, to announce she was officially changing the lyric.
Lizzo says she’s had tons of hurtful words directed at her over the years because she’s a self-proclaimed ‘fat black woman in America’ … and says she understands the power words can carry.
She went on to say, “I’m proud to say there’s a new version of GRRRLS with a lyric change. This is the result of me listening and taking action.”
And you know… good for her. That’s really the difference between men and women. If this happened to a male singer, you know he’d be all, “I’m not changing sh*t!” but women typically have an easier time correcting things because they don’t have that huge ego.
And yeah, maybe it’s silly. Maybe we shouldn’t let words offend us so much, but at the end of the day, who really cares? The song doesn’t need the word. If it’s hurting people, why not take it out? I suppose one could argue how far it might go. What will we be “allowed” to say in twenty years? But I don’t know… let’s worry about that when/if it happens.
