TV presenter Sophie Morgan – who is disabled – has slammed Beyoncé for using a derogatory term in a song on her new Renaissance album – just weeks after Lizzo did the same
Loose Women presenter Sophie Morgan has slammed Beyoncé for using “deeply offensive” lyrics in a song – just weeks after Lizzo did the same.
The telly star, who was left paralysed from the chest down following a car crash, says she was heartbroken after discovering the word in the song Heated.
Beyoncé used the derogatory term, that has often been used to demean people with cerebral palsy, just weeks after Lizzo apologised for using the same word in her song GRRRLS.
Her publicist told the BBC that the word, which can have different connotations across the pond, was “not used intentionally in a harmful way”.
The Lemonade chart-topper’s team also said that the word would be “replaced in the lyrics”.
Sophie says she was heartbroken after hearing the slur was used again (
Image:
ITV)
Talking to the Loose Women panel this afternoon, Sophie said: “The word is a medical phrase but it basically got turned into an offensive term and so disabled people said we want to stop using it.
“So, the word is now what we call an ableist slur. It’s something that we fight very hard to have removed from everyday lexicon.”
Sophie, who was paralysed in a car crash when she was just 18-years-old and relies on a wheelchair, said that this latest incident is “particularly frustrating”.
She added: “When we see pop stars like Beyoncé using [the word], it is heart-breaking for lots of different reasons.
“But one of the reasons it’s particularly frustrating is that only six weeks ago another popstar, Lizzo, used the same term and it had a huge backlash.
Lizzo apologised for the use of the offensive term in her new song (
Image:
Michael Greenberg/Bravo via Gett)
The Loose Women asked why Beyoncé’s team missed the news about Lizzo (
Michael Greenberg/Bravo via Gett)
“She very gracefully just said ‘right I get it sorry I didn’t realise I caused offence – I don’t want to offend anybody’ and she changed it.
“So all the disability advocates and the campaigners were like ‘thank you’, ‘we don’t need to cancel anybody, there’s no need for that, this is about learning and education’.
“We all hoped that this would be an example of a way in which somebody can taught the ways in which they offended someone and that they could learn from it and globally we can have a conversation that will enable us to therefore say look what Lizzo did, it won’t happen again.
“We all thought there was change made and now less than two months later we’ve got Beyoncé, who is so influential, doing exactly the same thing.”
Sophie and the panel, made up of Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Gloria Hunniford, discussed how the popstar’s team seemingly missed the Lizzo news.
Sophie said she felt “we have taken 10 steps back” with Beyoncé (
Image:
ITV)“It makes you wonder, does she have anybody on her team that has a disability? Because we would not have allowed that to happen and we would be trying to police that,” Sophie added.
“It almost feels like we have a step forward with Lizzo and five steps back or ten steps back with Beyoncé and it’s just a little bit demoralising.
“Even the concept of ableism is something we still need to educate people on and so it feels like a constant fight and a constant struggle to be heard.
“It is important to have disabled people in your team, you don’t have to, to be make sure you don’t slip up, but it will mean that these mistakes don’t get made.
“They are deeply offensive and they set back the agenda so far. We thought that we learnt a lesson with Lizzo, but unfortunately it looks like we haven’t.”
