Over the weekend, fans flocked to social media to call out the singer for her choice to use the word “spaz” in the opening verse, viewing it as a derogatory term. (“Hold my bag, b—h/ Hold my bag/ Do you see this s–t?/ I’m a spaz/ I’m about to knock somebody out/ Yo, where my best friend?/ She the only one I know to talk me off the deep end,” she sings over the sample of “Girls” by the Beastie Boys.)
“Hey @lizzo my disability Cerebral Palsy is literally classified as Spastic Diplegia (where spasticity refers to unending painful tightness in my legs) your new song makes me pretty angry + sad. ‘Spaz’ doesn’t mean freaked out or crazy. It’s an ableist slur. It’s 2022. Do better,” one disappointed listener wrote.
Another tweeted, “It doesn’t matter if lizzo knew the ableist connotations of the word sp*z, it is still problematic. so many people will sing this song and integrate the word into their day to day language.”
Others even petitioned Lizzo directly to remove the word from the song altogether. “Hey @lizzo please remove the word ‘spaz’ from your new song because it’s a slur and really offensive to the disabled community,” one wrote, signing off, “From a disappointed fan.”
Arriving on the heels of Top 10 hit “About Damn Time” and its viral TikTok dance, “Grrrls” serves as the second single off Lizzo’s forthcoming studio album Special, which will be released July 15 via Nice Life Recording Company/Atlantic Records.
Hey @lizzo my disability Cerebral Palsy is literally classified as Spastic Diplegia (where spasticity refers to unending painful tightness in my legs) your new song makes me pretty angry + sad. ‘Spaz’ doesn’t mean freaked out or crazy. It’s an ableist slur. It’s 2022. Do better.
Y’all, I’m not defending LIZZO I’m literally fucking disabled in multiple ways (autistic and chronically I’ll) I’ve been called spastic and spaz ALL MY LIFE!, hearing her use the slur hurt me BUT I just wanted to acknowledge it has another meaning in AAVE
Nice. New @lizzo song pops up on my discover playlist, where she uses the word spaz in the first 25 seconds. Bar is truly in hell, 2022 and still asking people not to use slurs at Lizzo’s big age. #Ableism
An offensive and derogatory term. As someone who’s written about the use of disability language, especially slang/slur words which have been used in schools, this is a huge step back.
Spaz or spastic are horrible words. The history of this term is deeply upsetting, especially when you discover it was appropriated from @scope, who were then forced to change their original name as a result.
it doesn’t matter if lizzo knew the ableist connotations of the word sp*z, it is still problematic. so many people will sing this song and integrate the word into their day to day language.
source: Billboard
