Brooke Obie On Fatphobic Lizzo Backlash: “Leave Fat Black Women The F*ck Alone”
“They don’t know I do it for the culture, goddamn,” Lizzo sings on her newest single, “Rumors.”
Though it’s the opening line of the upbeat pop song about rising above haters who start ridiculous rumors about her, this clear callout about who Lizzo’s music is for didn’t stop colorist, fatphobic, anti-Black commenters from immediately accusing her of upholding white supremacist tropes and making music for a white audience within hours of the song and music video’s premiere.
Featuring Cardi B in all of her pregnant, bare-bellied glory, the “Rumors” video shows Lizzo being Lizzo — in full golden goddess glam, surrounded by other fat Black glammed-up golden goddesses. The video was a joyful, triumphant celebration of the Black women’s bodies that, in a fatphobic, anti-Black society, are often demanded to be shrouded and hidden away — including images of motherhood, like breastfeeding and bare baby bumps. But Lizzo and Cardi B refuse to be hidden. In a song where Lizzo declares herself “body goals,” and in a video where she proves it true — with thigh-high slits, skin flawless and shimmering, boobs sitting right, and a contagious smile — something violent stirred in the anti-Black commenters.