Beyoncé has confirmed that she will be removing a lyric from a song off her latest album, "Renaissance," after being slammed by disability charities, as well as the general public.
The singer came under fire for her use of the word "spaz" in the song "Heated." While the word means "go crazy" or "fight" in African-American vernacular English, it also is used in a derogatory manner to describe people with disabilities, particularly those living with cerebral palsy. A representative for the Grammy-winning singer confirmed to Insider that the word would be changed.
"The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced," the statement said.
In an opinion piece published Monday in The Guardian, Hannah Diviney, a disability advocate, wrote that Beyoncé's status as a pop icon "doesn't excuse her use of ableist language."
Diviney pointed at a similar incident earlier this year in which Lizzo apologized for using the same word in her song "Grrrls," which was rereleased with the lyric removed. Beyoncé may be a culturally significant singer but it "doesn’t excuse the fact that the teams of people involved in making this album somehow missed all the noise the disabled community made only six weeks ago when Lizzo did the same thing," Diviney wrote.
Responding to the outrage over her own use of the word, Lizzo released a statement on Twitter saying that she never intended to promote derogatory language.
"As a fat Black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case unintentionally)," she wrote. "I’m proud to say there’s a new version of ‘Grrls’ with a lyric change. This is the result of me listening and taking action. As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being a part of the change I’ve been waiting to see in the world."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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