Actually, Beyoncé wanted to hit the ground running again with her new album RENAISSANCE, which was released on July 29th. Now he thwarted himself with a racist song line. Her spokesman announced that the line of text will be removed.
In her song “Heated” she sings “Spazzing on that ass, spaz on that ass” towards the end of the track. The colloquial verb “to spaz” means something like “freak out” or “go crazy”. The problem is that the word also derives from the term “spastic,” which is used in medicine to describe the spasms that can occur with a condition such as cerebral palsy. The term is often used in a pejorative context to describe people with disabilities, particularly those with the neuromuscular disorder cerebral palsy.
People are deeply disappointed
The use of this word caused a lot of criticism. Now, a Beyoncé spokesman told Sky News that the lyrics will be replaced and that the term was never included in the song for racist reasons. Nevertheless, people are disappointed by Beyoncé, who, with over 200 million records, is one of the most successful artists in the world.
The disability organization Scope had described the use of the “deeply insulting term” as “appalling”. Furthermore, disability advocate Hannah Diviney said that the singer’s elevated status as one of the world’s most celebrated musicians “does not excuse her use of Leviistic language.” “So @Beyonce used the word ‘sp**’ in her new song ‘Heated’. This feels like a slap in the face to me, to the disability community, and after the progress we’ve been trying to make with Lizzo,” she said.
When someone is ableistic, the person infers a person’s disability directly from their mental or physical abilities without asking them or knowing more about it. According to Duden, it is therefore a question of devaluing this person.
Lizzo also had to take criticism for her lyrics
Singer Lizzo also recently got into a shitstorm because of the same statement as Beyoncé. Specifically, it’s about a line in her song “Grrrls” from her album SPECIAL (2022)
At one point, Lizzo sings, “Hold my bag, bitch, hold my bag / Do you see this shit? I’ma sp*z.” Many listeners found the last part of this line to be readish
The singer has since corrected the lyrics. Lizzo, who not only celebrates the female body on the outside, but above all in her music, made the following statement: “I would like to make one thing clear: I never want to spread derogatory language. As a fat black woman in America, I’ve used a lot of hurtful words against myself, so I understand the power words can have (whether intentionally or, in my case, unintentionally). As an influential artist, I am committed to being part of the change I have been waiting for in the world.”