Lizzo has broken down in tears following the onslaught of racist and fat-phobic abuse she’s received after dropping her new track ‘Rumours‘ with Cardi B.
During an Instagram Live, Lizzo said through tears: “On the days I feel I should be the happiest, I just… I feel so down…
“Sometimes I feel like the world just don’t love me back. It’s like, it doesn’t matter how much positive energy you put into the world – you’re still going to have people who have something mean to say about you”.
The 33-year-old singer continued, wiping tears from her cheeks with a tissue: “For the most part, it doesn’t hurt my feelings, I don’t care. I just think when I’m working this hard, my tolerance gets lower, my patience is lower, I’m more sensitive. And it gets to me…
“I just feel like I’m seeing negativity directed towards me in the most weirdest way, like, people saying sh*t about me that just doesn’t even make sense. It’s fat-phobic, and it’s racist, and it’s hurtful.
“If you don’t like my music, cool. If you don’t like ‘Rumours’ the song, cool. But a lot of people don’t like me because of the way I look.”
Lizzo also added: “I’m not making music for white people, I’m not making music for anybody. I’m a Black woman making music. I make Black music, period… I’m doing this sh*t for the big Black women in the future who just want to live their lives without being scrutinised or put into boxes.”
Cardi B is one of the celebrities who have jumped to Lizzo’s defense, writing on Twitter: “When you stand up for yourself they claim your problematic & sensitive.When you don’t they tear you apart until you crying like this. Whether you skinny, big, plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you. Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”
We applaud Lizzo for speaking out about her mental health struggles in the wake of such hateful online trolling. It serves as a poignant reminder that, despite the outpouring of #BeKind messages across social media every time someone in the public eye is pushed too far, we still have a long way to go in actually being kind. Whether an individual is famous or not shouldn’t be a factor in how we treat one another. We are all human, and our words hurt.