Beyoncé is changing a lyric to a song on her new album, “Renaissance,” following criticism by many people in the disability community that the track contained an ableist slur.
The 11th track, “Heated,” contained the word “spaz,” a slur against people with disabilities — and the same word for which Lizzo received backlash after including it in her single “Grrrls.”
“The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” a representative for Beyoncé said in a statement Monday.
On the internet, many fans pointed out that the word originated from “spastic.”
July 28, 202204:33
“Someone who is spastic is born with a disability which makes it difficult for them to control their muscles, especially in their arms and legs,” according to Collins dictionary. “Most people now refer to someone with this disability as having cerebral palsy.”
Others noted that the term has a different meaning in the Black community, commonly used to mean “go crazy” in African American English, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
“We’ve been over this, Spaz in AAVE is not the same word. Please educate yourself on our language the way we’ve been ‘encouraged’ to read up on ableist terms,” one person tweeted.
Another person tweeted: “‘Spaz’ is commonly known as ‘go crazy’ in AAVE. It has a significantly different meaning in that context.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
