Lizzo fell off, can she come back?
Slurs, lawsuits and Ozempic shade = fast track to alienating your audience
June 2019 was a big month. Donald Trump entered North Korea, the TV show Euphoria took over our lives, Scooter Braun bought all of Taylor Swift’s masters and Lizzo ruled the Glastonbury stage in a holographic purple bodysuit.
I remember watching her on the tiny television in my parent’s caravan and just feeling so proud and in awe of a plus-size Black woman, commanding an audience like that.
It truly was empowering.
Five years later and it’s hard to imagine Lizzo getting the same buzz as she did back then. There’s not been a new album for two years and if we’re honest, About Damn Time was the only memorable song from that record, anyway.
Instead of new music, we got a messy sexual harassment lawsuit, an ableist slur and, as of most recently, a whole lot of weight loss content.
How did Lizzo go from being the leader of the self-love movement, to hitting the self-destruct button?
First of all, the slur, which was on that last 2022 album.
On the song Grrrls, Lizzo used a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.
Now, not to defend her here, but I have noticed that our American cousins don’t seem as hot on these ableist slurs and I find myself regularly shocked watching a YouTube video when the ‘R’ or ‘S’ words are casually thrown around.
This may very well have been Lizzo’s own ignorance, but it’s a huge failure on her team, not to flag it before release.
In her public apology, Lizzo said, “As a fat Black woman in America, I have had many hurtful words used against me so I understand the power words can have (whether intentionally, or in my case, unintentionally.)”
The song was re-released with amended lyrics, but, as harsh as it may be, being a pillar of self-love and acceptance means Lizzo was judged all the more harshly for this lack of judgement.
Then, out of the blue, came the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by her former tour dancers.
Three dancers filed the complaint, alleging they not only had to work in a hostile environment, but that they were pressurised to attend a live sex show in Amsterdam.
“Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas,” the lawsuit claims.
“Lizzo then turned her attention to Ms. Davis and began pressuring Ms. Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women performing at the club.”
Additionally, Shirlene Quigley, the captain of Lizzo’s dance team, was called out for allegedly forcing her religious beliefs on employees and engaging in sexual harrasment.
However, the most damning thing in the lawsuit for Lizzo, were the allegations that she fat-shamed her employees, with one former dancer saying her weight gain was pointed out to the extent she felt she had to offer an explanation.
I don’t think any of you need me to point out why, in particular, these allegations are so damning for brand Lizzo.
To me, it’s similar to the Jonathan Van Ness reports we discussed on here before. No one likes a bully, let alone one that claims to be a self-love, body positive activist.
Not to mention, that Lizzo had profited off hiring plus-size dancers by having her own reality talent show: Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls.
To make it worse, Lizzo’s statements in reaction to the allegations, weren’t great either and although she denied all the claims, she put the focus on herself.
Again, a failing by her and her team.
Two months later, she posted another statement, saying she “Quit”.
Even if these allegations are completely false, the response shouldn’t be centred on making Lizzo the victim. Yes, deny them, but state how seriously you take them, how you’re investigating what happened and how this is the opposite of what your brand stands for.
Since Lizzo posted her, “I Quit story” in March this year, it’s been pretty quiet on the flute front. But, now Lizzo is making her return and honestly, it’s not just Meghan and Harry who need a new publicist.
As a once Lizzo stan, I hadn’t seen anything, until this video popped up on my TikTok FYP.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
The video shows Lizzo in a bra top and shorts with the caption, “When you wake up and weigh less than you did in 2019”.
Now, I really have to think about how I word this because I don’t want it to get misinterpreted. However, as I love to say, nothing is black and white and there’s a whole big grey area here, I want to address.
I have never believed that following the body positivity movement means you can’t lose weight. In fact, it rages me, when non plus-sized people hold that belief and use it against the community.
Personally, I take more of a body neutrality approach. Loving your body is a lot, when you live in a society that hates it, but not letting the fear of judgement stop you from living your life is, what I want myself (and you) to strive for.
Having said that, do I think having a brand that was all about fat acceptance, to actively posting weight loss content, is unfair to the audience that you’ve garnered?
Yes. Especially when we’re very much back in a toxic diet culture thanks to Ozempic.
Speaking of that…
If I didn’t think Lizzo was rage baiting before, this post pretty much confirmed it for me.
For those who can’t see, Lizzo is posing cutely for the camera. The text on screen says: “When you finally get Ozempic allegations after 5 months of weight training and calorie deficit” and the sound used is the one that says, “It’s like a reward”.
It’s giving Nikocado Avacado Internet troll vibes and if you read my Mukbang piece, you know my thoughts on him.
Lizzo will say that she can never win. That she’s criticised for being bigger and criticised for being smaller, which is true and no, it isn’t fair.
Not to mention that as a Black woman she faces even more criticism than her white peers.
But, I have to ask myself, what does Lizzo even stand for anymore when she’s actively promoting her weight loss in such a way, whilst simultaneously shading people for taking medication to do the same thing.
It’s her body, of course she can do what she wants, but the way you then discuss that online does matter when your entire brand was built on empowering fat people.
I don’t want or expect to see Lizzo body checking online to an audio from Mukbanger Nickocado Avocado who gained and lost 100 pounds in the most unhealthy of ways.
It’s akin to Chappell Roan bringing out Kid Rock as a support act.
With all these actions: the slur, the lawsuit, the response, the TikToks, Lizzo has alienated the audience she worked so hard to cultivate.
You can’t build a following on activism, positivity and inclusion and then say you quit when you’re called to account.
It sucks, it’s not fair and Lizzo will have gotten more hate than probably any artist out there, but the brand she’s built means she is held to a higher standard and maybe, this is her way of culling those fans that expected more from her.
It’s like Katy Perry releasing an album about a woman’s world, whilst collabing with an accused sexual predator. It leaves you wondering where the morals are, let alone the publicists.
In conclusion, I think the only way back for Lizzo now, would be with a belter of an album, but, I’m gonna be honest, I don’t see that coming and even if it does, she will need to win over a new fanbase to replace the ones who so wholeheartedly embraced her previously.
100% yes to this! I’ve always been fat and Lizzo played a massive part in my journey towards self acceptance and self love. Seeing a fat woman live her life like that, perform in outfits that always seemed reserved for thin people, have fat dancers, not to mention her lyrics that were all about loving your body at any size…it meant SO much to me. I was a fan and went to her shows several times. Her response post to the accusations against her was just really not it. I remember the entire tone of that just not sitting right with me. I eventually unfollowed her when she posted that she finally reached her ‘goal weight’.
I’m not saying that if you’ve ever been fat or a ‘fat icon’ that you can’t lose weight. I’m not even saying that you can’t WANT to lose weight. There are a million reasons why someone’s body might change. But to actively celebrate it as a positive thing in a climate that is already so fragile? When it seems like we’ve taken a thousand steps back in terms of body diversity or positivity? When fat people, that Lizzo always claimed to care so much about, already feel so incredibly betrayed by everyone who has turned their backs on them the second Ozempic chic became the new trend? That’s wild to me.
Was her entire brand on empowering fat people? Or was she just a great singer? I don’t know I think you are reading way too much into this. The fact that she was empowered by her body doesn’t mean she can’t now go and be proud of losing weight, and yes she is a bit of a bully, but I see that as more of her brand than any empowering.