Singer and rap artist Lizzo has been receiving some negative attention on social media for her current single Grrrls because the lyrics in the song have an ableist term. On the track, Lizzo says, “Hold my bag, b*tch, hold my bag / Do you see this sh*t? I’ma sp*z.” Some users on social media have labeled the the term as ableist slur about people with cerebral palsy and most of the social media users have asked Lizzo to remove the word from the song. Because of the comments on social media Lizzo went on Twitter to tell people she has has added new lyrics in the song.
Warren Kirwan, is a spokesman for a group in Britan called Scope and the company puts together campaigns about equality for people with disabilities. Kirwan has mentioned how in the past 30 years the term is a word of abuse toward disabled people in the U.K. In 1994 Scope changed its name from The Spastic Society to Scope in order to avoid any kind of interaction with the slur.
Also Kirwan discussed how Lizzo handled the situation in a professional and civil way.
“The differing cultural contexts may help explain why Lizzo, an American, used the term, even if it doesn’t excuse it but Lizzo handled the situation well once she learned more about the word. It was in her power to own that mistake and change it and well done for doing that.” said Kirwan.
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