Woo child, Lizzo’s tired of the bull****. While accepting an award for her work having a social message at Sunday night’s 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, the Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls host had a message for all of her haters: “Heard you say I’m not the baddest bitch, you lie.”
During Sunday’s VMA ceremony, while accepting the VMA for the Video for Good category (previously the Video with a Message category), Lizzo responded to recent fatphobic comments made about her by comedian Aries Spears. And while the 34-year-old singer could have responded to his harmful comments with a calculated PR statement, she instead responded in an even better way: by celebrating her success.
“And now, for bitches that got something to say about me in the press,” Lizzo started, “Aries, what’s good?” In a clear call back to Nicki Minaj’s 2015 VMAs opener, in which Minaj told Miley Cyrus, “And now, back to this bitch who had a lot to say about me the other day in the press: Miley, what’s good?”
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But Lizzo’s direct clap back at Spears ended there. “You know what? I’m not going to say nothing. They be like, ‘Lizzo, why don’t you clap back? Why don’t you clap back?’ ‘Cause, bitch, I’m winning, ho!,” Lizzo said thunderous applause before quoting Beyoncé’s “Formation” single, “Best revenge is your paper, bitch!”
Aries Spears Fat Shames Lizzo
The “Truth Hurts” singer’s comments at the 2022 VMA ceremony come days after MADtv comedian Aries Spears made extremely fatphobic comments about the singer in an interview with The Art of Dialogue. When asked about Lizzo’s music, Spears said, “I can’t get past the fact that she looks like the s*** emoji. She’s got a very pretty face, but she keeps showing her body off. Like, come on, you?”
“I’m sorry, listen,” Spears continued, explaining that while he’s not “the most in shape,” he is “funny, has swagger and confidence, and is at least decent looking” enough to attract the opposite sex. “I think I’m at least handsome. A woman that’s built like a plate of mashed potatoes is in trouble.”
The comedian then went on to call out the “hypocrisy” in women who praise body confidence and “sisterhood” but won’t discuss potential health risks, saying:
Lizzo has been open about her struggles with body image and is an advocate for body positivity, encouraging the entertainment community (and the world at large) to embrace bodies of all sizes. In the past, she’s also called out those who assume those with larger bodies automatically have health issues, saying “health is not just determined on what you look like on the outside.” In fact, as medical science learns more about the impact of weight stigma on the human body and social behavior, researchers have discovered that the West’s increasing focus on “obesity” prevention has had a negative impact on well-being because it can increase one’s risk for diabetes, heart disease, discrimination, bullying, eating disorders, sedentariness, lifelong discomfort in one’s body and even early death.
You know what kills me about women is the hypocrisy and the contradiction. F— diabetes, f— heart problems, f— heart disease, cholesterol. Y’all claim womanhood and about sisterhood and support for your sister, you know, when it comes to that ridiculous s—. But if you really gave a f—, why wouldn’t you go, ‘Black girl, we love your confidence, boo boo, but this ain’t it. This ain’t it. That’s the real love! Y’all will jump on me for making jokes, but y’all won’t f—ing be real and go, ‘Sister, put the éclair down. This ain’t it. It’s treadmill time.’
