The 40-year-old singer received glowing reviews for her dance-inspired seventh studio album when it was released on Friday, but she faced backlash over the weekend after listeners pointed out that the song “Heated” contained a derogatory term.
The word “spaz,” which is frequently used in casual speech to signify “freaking out” or “going crazy,” really originated from the term “spastic,” which is derogatory to those who have spastic 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,” disability advocate Hannah Diviney wrote on Twitter.
Yet another tweeted, “Screw you @Beyonce. You should be a role model, not making money from the lazy use of derogatory language. Shame on you.”s representatives via a statement to the media noted that the phrase, not used purposefully in a damaging sense, would be replaced and that the song will be changed.