Marie Gicquel with AFP 10:22 a.m., August 3, 2022
Beyoncé is under fire from critics.
Despite a triumphant return on Friday July 30 with his album "Renaissance", one of the titles of his album written with rapper Drake was criticized for containing the term "spaz" ("cretin", in French), offensive to people with a disability.
An unexpected studio stint.
American superstar Beyoncé is going to have to re-record a song from her new album,
Renaissance
.
The announcement follows heavy criticism on social media after a slang word was used as an insult by people with disabilities.
A controversial word
In this case, this term is in the title
Heated
, written in collaboration with the Canadian rapper Drake, in which the singer sings:
"Spazzin' on that ass, spazz on that ass"
.
Derived from the adjective "spastic" ("spastic"), the term "spaz", in English, can be used to make fun of people suffering from cerebral palsy and can be associated loosely with the words "cretin". , "disturbed" or even "stuffy".
In the United States, the word "spaz" is rare and seems rather to describe a person deemed "out of control" or who acts in an "erratic" way.
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A precedent with the singer Lizzo
In an attempt to put out the start of a fire on social networks, Beyoncé will therefore re-record the offending song by "replacing" the term "spaz", a spokeswoman for the artist wrote to AFP.
The latter assures that "the word was not used intentionally to hurt".
The same story happened in June to American singer Lizzo, who had to re-record her title
Grrrls
to remove the same slang term "spaz".
Australian activist Hannah Diviney, speaking on Twitter, said Beyoncé's use of the term was "like a slap in the face, for the disabled community and for the progress made with Lizzo".
She vowed to "keep telling the whole music industry to 'do better' until 'abledist' slurs (discriminating against people with disabilities) are gone from music."