Pop superstar Beyoncé confirmed Monday she is removing a lyric from her latest album amid backlash.
Disability charities and activists slammed Beyoncé’s song “Heated” for using the word “spaz,” calling the lyric “ableist” and “offensive,” according to Insider. The outlet argued that in African American Vernacular English, a dialect cultivated and used by black communities, the word “spaz” means to “go crazy” or to “fight,” but it is most popularly known as a derogatory term for someone with a physical disability.
“Screw you Beyonce. You should be a role model, not making money from the lazy use of derogatory language. Shame on you,” Chief executive of REAL, Mike Smith, wrote on his Twitter. (RELATED: ‘The Office’ Star Rainn Wilson Bullied Into Retracting Comment About ‘Chestfeeding’)
Lizzo Pressured To Change Song Lyrics https://t.co/0zopezLhYE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 14, 2022
Beyoncé is the second musician to remove the word “spaz” from their music in the last year. Lizzo had to release a new version of the song “GRRRLS” in June after she was called out for using the term.
“The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” according to a statement sent on behalf of the singer to Insider. Beyonce released her latest album, “Renaissance” on Friday, her seventh studio album, according to another article from Insider.
It’s her first album in six years after “Lemonade” hit the charts. The new album has been described by critics as far more “relentlessly upbeat and fun” than her previous work, Insider noted.