Beyonce will be removing a lyric from her new album Renaissance after disability charities and activists called it out for being “ableist” and “offensive.”
The lyric is included in the album’s 11th track “Heated” in which Beyonce sings, “Sp*zzin’ on that ass, sp*zz on that ass.”
While the word may often be used to describe “freaking out” or “going crazy” the word is derived from the word “spastic,” which is a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.
“So @Beyonce used the word ‘sp**’ in her new song ‘Heated’. Feels like a slap in the face to me, the disabled community and the progress we tried to make with Lizzo,” one disability advocate Hannah Diviney tweeted after the album came out.
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
A rep for the singer sent a statement to Insider confirming she will be removing it from the album.
“The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” the statement read.
The change comes just days after Beyonce dropped her critically acclaimed Renaissance, and just a couple of months after the same exact scenario played out with Lizzo’s new album Special.
