How The Internet Fell Out of Love With Lizzo

Let's Establish Some Ground Rules [Music] [Applause] [Music] so if you're new here how the internet fell out of love is a monthly series that I do on this channel where I pick a celebrity or pop culture figure and I Chronicle the internet's perception of them over a certain period of time and I try to do that from as neutral or unbiased of a perspective as I possibly can many of the folks that I choose to cover on here are people whose work I was a fan of at some point in time if I am not still a fan of them but I think for as long as I've been doing this series it has garnered the reputation online of like Kayla's going to come on here and tell the story about how someone got cancelled and she's going to make fun of them for it and maybe sometimes that's a part of the narrative but I think a bigger part of what I try to do here is you know Chronicle the story in a way that somebody can understand if they don't know all this information and then from there I leave it up to you to debate whether or not the internet falling out of love with a person was fair because as we've seen it can happen on a dime whether it's Justified or not and I wanted to give you that preface here today because when I started doing research for this video which has been highly requested for a long time I really wanted to do it right because if you search like lizo drama on YouTube you'll get plenty of videos highlighting some controversies that of course we're going to get into but they do it in a way that I just don't think is very productive you know lizo was always this horrible manipulative person she's a monster and whether or not you believe that's actually true based on the information that I'm going to tell you about today I think people were a little too eager to start [ __ ] on lizo the moment that they had the opportunity to whether she deserves it or not and so therefore my last disclaimer here is that what we're not going to do in my comment section today is be racist and fat phobic critique lizo all you want for her actions and her alleged Behavior over the last few years but I just really want to drive home before we get into all of this that a person being quote unquote problematic does not give you the excuse to dehumanize them or negatively critique their appearance because it's not relevant I will delete your comments I don't care but before we get there I have a very important development that I want to discuss with all of you and that is that I have a brand new dresser this Sponsored By Article! beautiful dresser here came from article which is the sponsor of today's video and I want to talk about all of the things that I love about it so so much first of all it has so much space the drawers are so wide which is amazing because I have a lot of clothes and I live in a very tiny New York apart apartment and so storage is a big factor for me and when I got this dresser I was so pleased with like the depth that all these drawers have it's Sleek I 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being like I like this a lot I think this girl is going to blow up and then sure enough by 2019 she was absolutely everywhere I just took a good as hell definitely did some numbers but her two biggest songs around that time were juice and truth hurts and Truth Hurts in particular if you were in college around that time like that song was absolutely inescapable lizza's music around that time was definitely in like the Feelgood positivity category and while I think her music is more typically associated with like the general feeling of cringe now at the time there were something really Earnest and endearing about it and you know something really Earnest and endearing about her as a performer she wasn't an industry plan she was working and grinding her way to the top starting off as a rapper and then getting more into like this upbeat Pop Style with R&B influences she was also a really great Entertainer I think a lot of people remember the BET performance which I don't think I can play for copyright where she's like in a wedding dress and she's playing the flu I think lizzo's power around this time was that she was a really magnetic Entertainer and she seemed like she was having fun she was having fun being there she was grateful for every single experience that came her way during her rise and I think she stood out because around that time I remember sort of like you know this was Peak Billy eyh era as well and I love Billy I do but I think her Melancholy softer spoken kind of style really influenced the rest of the pop scene around that time so lizzo's loud over-the-top style being such a stark contrast from that really made her stand out and obviously we also have to note the fact that lizo doesn't look like a typical female pop star she's a plus-sized woman and she typically dresses in a way that Society does not deem to be acceptable but obviously this is an aspect of lizzo's persona that's very empowering for plus-sized women and girls who don't usually see themselves represented that way in pop music and for the most part I don't think it ever came off as disingenuous or preachy more in the sense of like you don't have to be a size two to shake ass and I think that's a message that everyone should be able to get behind but of course the way that lizo confidently moved through the world as a fat black woman was inherently going to be off-putting to different groups of people of course she was attacked from all angles in terms of the promoting obesity conversation at other points in time she was critiqued by parts of her plus-size fan base who disliked that she was doing ads promoting weight loss Rel ated products but I think what endeared a lot of people to her more in this regard was the fact that she was just a talented person doing her thing and she didn't care what she looked like and she didn't care if you liked it I think Peak lizo foe outrage was that time that Ben Flute Gate & Other Minor Scandals Shapiro melted down because she played a flute that belonged to James Madison she played it in the Library of Congress and remember lizo is a professionally classically trained flutist or flautist I don't know how to pronounce it I'm sorry and then she brought that same flute to a concert and played it there and a bunch of conservatives started freaking out and saying that she was disrespecting I guess the legacy of James Madison because she was playing the flute while like twerking and she was in her like little you know concert get up which is just a very silly thing to be mad about and I think most people could like get behind that sentiment at the time it's also worth noting here that during this time lizo did have her own fair share of like actual controversies for example she was accused of stealing from a British singer in 2018 with her song Truth Hurts specifically by apparently lifting the DNA line from a tweet lizo denied those allegations and said that she got the line from a meme and not from that specific tweet she put a girl on blast on Twitter uh for allegedly stealing her Postmates order uh and then she apologized for that owning up to the fact that like lizo has a large following and so that could have definitely put that girl in danger and referring to Chris Brown as her favorite person which a [ __ ] yikes after lizzo's first big breakthrough album cuz I love you which came out in 2019 we saw a lot more of her in various iterations she won an Emmy for her reality TV series watch out for the big girls which featured women who were competing to be dancers on lizzo's tour she was working closely with siza and was a contributing producer on some of her tracks and she was releasing new music that ultimately came out on her next album special including the song Rumors and about damn time which became a sleeper hit on Tik Tok when it came to the pop Scene It Felt Like lizo was here to stay and outside of the promoting obesity naysayers I don't think most people had a problem with that I think at the very least her music kind of had a reputation for being like the upbeat funky Kohl's music that you see in retail commercials like that commentary is definitely more prevalent now than it was then but she had some bangers and I think generally speaking she was just a source of positivity for a lot of people especially the plus-sized fans who looked up to her which is why a big controversy that she got into this time last year really threw people for a loop Ahoy, Allegations! none of that bombshell lawsuit against lizo three former backup dancers are suing the pop super star her production company and her tour's dance instructor alleging sexual and racial harassment as well as a hostile work environment in August of last year three of lizzo's former dancers accused her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment allegations include lizo allegedly berating and firing a dancer due to her weight gain and alleging that she pressured one of them to touch a nude performer at a club in Amsterdam there are some pretty like in-depth allegations here in regards to that Amsterdam encounter that I don't think I'm allowed to say but I'm putting them on the screen so you can read them the lawsuit also claims that lizo subjected some dancers to a quote excruciating audition after leveling false accusations that they were drinking on the job there were also some bizarre allegations that the captain of lizzo's dance team was like berading some of the dancers who had premarital sex and was generally just like being inappropriate with them in regards to what that has to do with lizo specifically the dancers allege that lizo did know about this behavior and did nothing about it and finally the lawsuit alleges that there were racist and fat IC comments geared toward the dancers by employees related to lizzo's tour the same day that this lawsuit came to light a filmmaker came out and said that she walked away from making a documentary about lizo because of how she treated her and other people who worked with lizo who were not involved directly in that lawsuit spoke up on Instagram corroborating the allegations in response to these allegations lizo ended up posting a statement on Instagram that says quote these last few days have been gut-wrenchingly difficult and overwhelmingly disappointing my work ethic morals and respectfulness have been questioned my character has been criticized usually usually I choose not to respond to false allegations but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed these sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional within the same time frame there were another group of dancers who posted a statement in support of lizo on an Instagram page there was also a second lawsuit filed against lizo a short time after this with a former employee suing lizo and her wardrobe manager for the same claims of a hostile working environment lizo also attempted to counter suit the dancers but that lawsuit was ultimately thrown out and for a complete write up of all of these lawsuits there are links in the description down below now I'm going to State the obvious here uh this [ __ ] sucks lizo built her whole brand off of inclusion and positivity especially for women who looked like her and to hear allegations that her dancers were treated in this way is disappointing but not necessarily surprising considering that they are generally speaking a lack of opportunities for plus-size dancers in the entertainment industry and there's a whole uncomfortable power Dynamic here of plus-size dancers being you know grateful to have a job on a high-profile tour like lizo and feeling like they need to you know put up with certain behavior in order to keep the positions that they're currently in I feel like I also remember rumors around the time that this case first broke that the dancers were lying and they confirmed that they were lying I haven't seen any like official Source about that I see people saying that on Tik Tok but like most of that has been unfounded I think and also the fact that like the most recent update is that you know this year in 2024 it was confirmed that you know parts of the lawsuit were going forward lizo kind of laid low for a bit after Lizzo Quits The Internet (Kind Of) this but it was clear that all of this you know negative attention was getting to her because she posted a statement on Instagram a little later in the spring of this year saying quote I'm getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet all I want is to make music and make people happy and help the world be a little better than how I found it but I'm starting to feel like the world doesn't want me in it I'm constantly up against lies being told about me for clout and Views being the butt of the joke every single time because of how I look my character being picked part by people who don't know me and disrespecting my name I didn't sign up for the [ __ ] I quit this led people to you know clearly speculate that she was quitting the music industry entirely but she later clarified in an Instagram video where she said something to the effect of I want to continue making music but I'm going to you know quit giving these haters my time and energy that catches us up to present day where lizo recently posted on social media that she's you know taking a gap year to protect her piece presumably as all these legal situations play out in the court she says she wants to write an album about like her journey of self- Lov throughout this time and oh my God people are being so [ __ ] weird about this here's the thing it's clear from the videos that lizo has been posting on social media as of late that she's definitely lost a little bit of weight and like good for her but it's just so mindboggling to me that since this lawsuit came out and not necessarily for for a bad reason I'm just saying like everybody has been dragging lizo to hell and back saying that she treats her dancers like [ __ ] saying that her music has always been bad and like cringy and corny that she never should should have been famous people have been like pretending that she just hasn't existed for like a full year I don't see anybody talking about like lizzo's music anymore at all ever and now if you search her name it's all like lizo reveals stunning weight loss lizo talks about her weight loss Secrets lizo reveals jaw-dropping transformation the right-wingers who have been giving her [ __ ] since she came on the scene in like 2018 are now all posting about how like bullying works and lizo is finally trying to take control of her body and like [ __ ] you what I'm trying to articulate here is that I feel gross about the fact that It's All Body Politics lizzo's perception and reputation has ultimately always ever been connected to her body she moves through the world differently than some of the other pop girlies who have been in the game recently and as a result she's gotten dragged through the mud for making corny body positivity music then she does something actually problematic and gives all of those people a reason to double down and it's shitty and it sucks and in a sea of criticism that is actually valid and relevant to the issue at hand there's a lot of just blatant fat phobia and anti-blackness that people now feel as though they can get away with because lizo did something bad and to be clear I'm not saying that like she should be exonerated for everything that's alleged in that lawsuit I I feel like if people are corroborating it both within that lawsuit and outside of it and lizo has garnered this reputation in multiple different contexts like obviously there is a kernel of Truth there and I think it has to play out in the court and I feel like if she is guilty of a lot of the things that are said in this lawsuit like that's shitty and it sucks and she should receive consequences for that for sure but the way that everyone is suddenly switching up on her and praising her because she lost a little bit of weight like I'm not saying this in regards to like everyone and how they feel about her but I feel like for some people they've just always been uncomfortable with the fact that she's not skinny and unfortunately I feel as though I'm going to get misinterpreted here and people are going to boil what I'm saying down to lizo should be forgiven for everything she's done wrong because she's plus-sized that's literally not what I'm saying at all the behavior that we let celebrities get away with has always been and is going to always be proportionate to how they look and how they function in the world so I'm not saying lizo should get a pass for being mean to her dancers because she's fat I'm not saying that lizo has automatically been reformed because she's lost weight and is clearly thinner now I'm just saying that these kinds of biases have always been persistent within us and I would like all of us to start being more consistent the internet was waiting to fall out of love with lizo and instead of meeting that moment she definitely [ __ ] up catastrophically by building her own brand around body positivity only to turn around and allegedly demean the people who worked for her and likely took the job thinking that it was going to be a safe space in the way that the world has demeaned her it's sick and it's sad and it's [ __ ] up and I hate it but am I going to be surprised if the perception of lizo changes over time in correlation with how her body is changing no because the internet is filled with some superficial [ __ ] that's all [Music] a [Music]