In August 2023, the American singer, songwriter, and rapper Lizzo was accused of assault, disability discrimination, and sexual harassment by some members of her team. Although the artist had tried to file the judicial case, opened by three of her ex-dancers, the judge did not approve it, and the inquiry was brought to court.
Even though the trial has not yet come out, there are a lot of people who believe in Lizzo’s side of the story, considering that she is a public figure who speaks and defends the body positivity movement and racial equality, among other humanitarian causes for a few years now.
Because of this history, followers, and fans everywhere were shocked by the accusations of committing the exact crimes that she had, until this point, defended so fearlessly. There are also the ones that stand by the fact that she is guilty of doing all of those horrible things for the people who worked with her, but, unfortunately, until the final verdict be declared, cybernauts can only suppose cenarios, and the performer has been verbally attacked on social media since then.
latest pronouncements
In a pronouncement made by the artist via her Instagram at the end of March, she stated that she is “tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet”.
“All I want is to make music and make people happy and help the world be a little better than how I found it. But I’m starting to feel like the world doesn’t want me in it. I’m constantly up against lies being told about me for clout & views… being the butt of the joke every single time because of how I look… my character being picked up apart by people who don’t know me and disrespecting my name
I didn’t signed up for this shit—
I QUIT”
Lizzo via Instagram.
With this announcement, fans, journalists, and news portals all over the internet understood and replicated the information that she was quitting the music business, creating an uproar. Until a few days later, when Lizzo denied the assumptions by posting a video clarifying that she was, in fact, willing to stop caring about any negative energy.
an attempt to rebrand herself?
Something very odd about this case is that just a few days after the Instagram post quoting that she was “quitting”, what seemed like to be her career as a singer, the account published a video promoting her new collection of swimsuits by her shapewear brand Yitty.
There are some speculations that this is all an advertising move, an attempt to rebrand her image after the judicial case that was brought to the media at the end of last year. Since this event, Lizzo has been dealing with a bombardment of negative comments online and, consequently, her image is being damaged.
Even Beyoncé did not want to be associated with these speculations and ended up changing the lyrics of her song “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)“ taking Lizzo’s name out of the homage, during one of her shows of the Renaissance World Tour, at Massachusetts.
Does she deserve the attacks?
Even if Lizzo is blameworthy for all the things that she’s been accused of, is it acceptable to attack her on the internet, saying horrible things that can certainly destroy her life?
It’s obvious that if she committed the crimes it’s the justice dutty to make her “pay” for all the damage and hurt inflicted on her ex-workers’ lives. But, as a society, we are not in a place where we can pretend to be a judge and discriminate in someone else’s life.
However, we can certainly acknowledge Lizzo’s mistakes and point out that what she did was wrong, seek justice, support the victims, and trust in justice, hoping it will be conquered.
The article above was edited by Rafaella Angelotti Alcici.
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