Is Lizzo Ableist?
When you think of ableist celebrities one of the last people who probably comes to mind is Lizzo. But the reality is she is - because we all have ableism in us. There has never been a more outspoken artist when it comes to body positivity and acceptance than Lizzo. Not only does her music celebrate body positivity and positive mental health, she’s also used her personal platform to advocate for traditionally marginalized communities: Queer, Trans, BIPOC and more. However in her most recent single released this past Friday she used an ableist slur and is receiving an outpouring of disappointment from the disability community.
The lyrics from her newest song ‘Grrrls’, which have caused such a strong reaction are:
“Hold my bag, bitch, hold my bag / Do you see this shit? I’ma sp*z.”
While sp*z is commonly used in society to note that someone is about to ‘freak out’ or ‘go crazy’, the term originates from the word ‘spastic’, which is used medically to describe the spasms from conditions like cerebral palsy. The word is only used to describe people with disabilities negatively. Disability activists like Callum Stephen, Shelby Lynch and Imani Barbarin have all come forward explaining what it is like to be a person living with the condition the word is derived from.
So how did she get here? How did this song get to the point where it was released from a major record label by one of the most inclusive artists without anyone stopping to think “Wait… this isn’t right. This is going to harm people. Let’s rethink this.”
There are many theories floating around by non disabled people about how we got here such as…
Hot Take 1: Lizzo didn’t know better:
I would bet the remainder of my left arm this is true. We all function in society with a level of implicit bias about many things and I’m sure Lizzo had no intention of harming the disabled community. Lizzo has been extremely inclusive in other moments of the disability community, most recently including them in mashups of her “About Damn Time” videos on Tiktok.
Something that we’re seeing with this expression of disappointment amongst fans of Lizzo is that there is an element of compassion that we don’t often see in public call outs. Activists are not calling for an end to her career but rather a change of lyrics and a moment to educate the pop star. This combination of disappointment and compassion stems from an understanding that the pop star has shown throughout her entire career that she want marginalized communities to be seen, included and celebrated and likely meant no harm.
Despite Lizzo not intending on harming the disability community that was not the impact. The impact was in fact harmful, and understanding the nuance behind language and the power of words is something all people need to be cognizant of but especially culture creators like Lizzo. As a public figure, the responsibility to examine and interrogate implicit bias is extremely important.
Hot Take 2: The term has a different meanings in different circles
Language matters.
Many people are saying that in the United States this isn’t an offensive term, and it’s only considered offensive in the UK or Australia. Others are saying that in AAVE it has a different meaning and therefore the artist is exempt.
The reality is that the Miriam Webster definition defines the term as offensive, and that the majority of disabled activists expressing concern are in fact BIPOC themselves.
Others are echoing talking points that the term is now used to describe someone who is “crazy,” “insane” or someone who is going to “freak out.” What these people fail to realize is that these terms are also ableist. Mental health advocates have been encouraging society to stop using these terms as they perpetuate negative stereotypes about people experiencing mental health diagnosis. Regardless of what the word means in the context of US vs UK or what the term now can mean in many other contexts, there are two important factors to keep at the top of mind when thinking through scenarios like this:
The term was originally used to describe disabled people with CP and is still used with negative and offensive connotations
People with lived experience of disability, CP, and other diagnosis where spasms are involved have come forward to say “this hurts us”
The real reason of how we ended up here? Ableism is unaddressed in diversity initiatives.
One of the most infamously inclusive artists to get called out for accidentally perpetuating ableism is an obviously manifestation of the fact that while 90% of companies have initiatives for DEIB, only 4% include disability within them. Most people do not categorize disability as a marginalized community worth understanding, valuing and including which is not only a massive micro-aggression, it’s also a missed business opportunity that can lead to public relations nightmares like this.
How to avoid the situation:
Take personal responsibility for your own growth
We live in a society that has been built from an ableist perspective. Social Darwinism taught tat only the “fittest” should survive and justified forced sterilization and institutionalization of disabled people. The Undesirables Act was an immigration law that prevented disabled people from entering the country. The Ugly Laws forbade disabled people from being seen in restaurants, grocery stores or any public places. Freakshows were the only means for disabled people to have any form of independence where they were exploited and used as props for people to pay money to point, stare, laugh and gawk at. The ADA has only been the law of the land for 30 years, and it’s not a self enforcing law therefore it’s quite ineffective.
Every part of our society was created through an ableist lens, and we are therefore steeped in the same perspective just by participating in society. It is our responsibility as human beings to take the unlearning of this perspective seriously and commit to it in all areas of our lives.Educate your teams
Lizzo doesn’t create her music in a silo. She has producers, she has other artists, she has assistants, she has publicists and marketers. As I have already stated Lizzo is an incredibly inclusive artist and I highly doubt she would have used the word had she known the connotation. However, it appears that either nobody on her team knew or nobody on her team cared that this word is considered a slur by the disability community.
A phrase I use in all of my teachings is “funnels of oppression” which refers to the fact that most people operate with levels of ableist implicit bias because of the systemic ableism mentioned above and don’t address it, but then they go on to create more parts of society and culture. Regardless of the level of seniority, we all create systems and if we don’t examine our implicit bias those systems will automatically become oppressive or harmful to some group of people.
If Atlantic had educated their teams effectively on ableism and implicit bias, not just one but many people would have understood this term to be harmful and could have spoken up.
Hire Disabled People
Disabled people are massively under represented in media, marketing and entertainment industries. While we make up over 25% of the population we are only featured in these industries 3.1% of the time. Whether it’s hiring disability consultants to review scripts or lyrics, building inclusivity boards that can help course correct before a potentially problematic item goes public or hiring disabled people as a part of your team and creating safe spaces so they can voice concerns - you need to have disabled people at the table. Entertainment, marketing and media create culture which is why the lack of inclusion is extremely alarming. An anthem of the disability community has always been “nothing about us without us” because we need to be included but we need to be included in ways that are helpful to our community.
The reality is that Lizzo / Atlantic is not the first and will not be the last entertainer and entertainment companies to harm disabled people. Whether it’s Sia’s “Music” or “The Witches” starring Anne Hathaway on HBO or now Lizzo with “Grrrls” we’re seeing a common theme - well intentioned, talented artists with big brands behind them continuing to create ableist content. Not only is this harming the disabled community, but it’s bad for business. Research shows that disability-inclusive workplaces significantly increase revenue, profit margins, and employee productivity. Inclusive or universal design, is the concept that when things are designed for people with permanent disabilities, everyone in society benefits. It’s sometimes referred to as the “curb-cut effect” as a curb-cut was designed for wheel-chair users, but people pushing strollers, or people riding bikes, or a film crew unloading equipment, also benefit. In 2019 the Ruderman Family Foundation found that Hollywood is leaving approximately $125 billion dollars annually on the table by not having authentic and accurate disability representation.
I’d love to help you + your team learn about ableism and avoid creating harmful + ableist content and build trust with the largest marginalized community in the world: disabled people.