Beyoncé’s new album ‘Renaissance’ debuted on July 29 to critical acclaim and fan’s delight.
One song, however, left some fans unhappy due to an ableist lyric. The song “Heated,” includes the word “sp*z” and was criticized as ableist and offensive on social media.
So @Beyonce used the word 'spaz' in her new song Heated. Feels like a slap in the face to me, the disabled community & the progress we tried to make with Lizzo. Guess I'll just keep telling the whole industry to 'do better' until ableist slurs disappear from music 💔
— Hannah Diviney (@hannah_diviney) July 30, 2022
Following the backlash, the singer’s team confirmed to Variety that the lyric will be removed.
“The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” the statement read.
Beyoncé isn’t the first artist to remove the word from their lyrics. Lizzo used the same term in her song “Grrrls” off her latest album, “Special.”
The singer also faced backlash and took action to update the lyrics.
“Let’s make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language,” Lizzo shared on social media.
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