Lizzo speaks out against ‘fat-phobic and racist’ messages that she receives on Instagram

Lizzo was in tears as she spoke out during an Instagram Live about the “fat-phobic” and “racist” abuse she receives on the platform.

The Grammy winner recently released her highly-anticipated comeback single Rumors in collaboration with rapper Cardi B and, despite the song being well-received, she said she has also been attacked on social media in response.

In the thirteen-minute video, which has since been deleted from her feed, Lizzo is sat in her bathroom as she wipes away her tears.

“On the days I feel I should be the happiest... I feel so down,” she confesses, “Like, I worked so hard.”

Deciding not to reveal the content of the hurtful messages, she explains: “I’m not even going to say them, to give them power.”

However, the Juice singer does go on to detail how the nasty comments are often about her appearance.

“People saying s*** about me that just doesn’t even make sense,” she added. “It’s fat-phobic, and it’s racist and it’s hurtful. If you don’t like my music, cool. If you don’t like ‘Rumors’ the song, cool. But a lot of people don’t like me because of the way I look... “

Lizzo went on to describe how she works “quadruple” the time “doing 12 hours a day” with press interviews, photoshoots, and other promotions. But she adds: “Sometimes I feel like the world just don’t love me back.”

“It’s like it doesn’t matter how much positive energy you put into the world, you’re still going to have people who have... something mean to say about you. And for the most part it doesn’t hurt my feelings; I don’t care. I just think when I’m working this hard, my tolerance gets lower. My patience is lower. I’m more sensitive and it gets to me.”

Referring to the song, she adds: “I think I’ve been in shock ever since the song came out... and I haven’t really been able to sit and just congratulate myself. Like, I did it. I dropped a song, I said everything I wanted to say, I make music that I like, that’s important to me, and I make music that I hope helps people. Period. I’m not making music for white people. I’m not making music for anybody. I’m a Black woman making music. I make Black music, period. I’m not serving anyone by myself... everyone’s invited.”

Later on, Lizzo posted a reflective tweet and told her 1.6m followers: “If u managed to love yourself today I’m proud of u. If u haven’t, I’m still proud of u. This sh*ts hard.”

Lizzo received an outpouring of love from fans and friends who comforted the 33-year-old.

Cardi B sent words of encouragement to her, writing: “Whether you skinny, big, plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you. Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”

Actor and activist Jameela Jamil described the horrible messages directed towards Lizzo as “f**ked up.”

Singer Chloe Bailey, from duo Chloe x Halle, told Lizzo how she was an inspiration to her and was proud of her speaking out against online trolls.

Fans of Lizzo also took to Twitter to send her positive messages, noticing the sad irony of the fact that she had just released Rumors – which is about people spending energy trying to bring women down, and that that’s exactly what was happening to her.

After her tearful video, Lizzo appeared to be cheerier in her follow-up tweet, where she shared a GIF of herself smiling and laughing.

She wrote: “Sometimes I get sad… and then I—”

Solidarity with you, Lizzo.