Tom Slater

In defence of Beyonce

The singer was wrong to bow to criticism over her 'offensive' lyrics

  • From Spectator Life
(Credit: Getty images)

People complaining about supposedly offensive pop lyrics is hardly anything new. It’s as old as the form itself; never-ending proof that everyone is offended by something and that every era has its own set of taboos. But the speed with which music stars appear to be acquiescing to other people’s hurt feelings today is surely something new.

Take Beyonce. She’s one of the biggest stars in the world. A genuine living legend. And yet because a handful of disabled charities and irked right-on tweeters have complained about one word in one of the songs on her new album Renaissance, her ‘team’ has almost immediately promised to scrub and re-record the offending lyric as soon as possible.

The word that has caused so much offence? ‘Spaz’, which Beyonce uttered a couple of times on the track ‘Heated’, which was co-written with Canadian rap star Drake. You might have struggled to work that out from some of the coverage however, given many news reports – including the BBC’s – have confusingly omitted the word itself, such is its apparently thermonuclear nature.

Beyonce’s run-in comes just weeks after singer Lizzo was hauled over the coals

So, here’s the offending line in full: ‘Spazzing on that ass, spaz on that ass.’ It might not look amazing on paper but in context it works perfectly well. As many people have pointed out, Beyonce is clearly using it in the slangy American sense – meaning to lose control, go crazy or fight. The song is not some sick diatribe against those with spastic cerebral palsy. 

Naturally, disabled charities don’t see it that way. Warren Kirwan, media manager at Scope, has called it ‘appalling that one of the world’s biggest stars has chosen to include this deeply offensive term’. 

‘Words matter because they reinforce the negative attitudes disabled people face every day and which impact on every aspect of disabled people’s lives’, he added.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in