A discussion about the Black community and AAVE (African American Vernacular English) was a trending topic on Tuesday morning after Beyoncé removed the word “spaz” from her song.
.@Beyonce’s “RENAISSANCE” has now surpassed 200 million streams on Spotify. It becomes her fastest album to achieve this. pic.twitter.com/tGQ7DmSuMB
— Beyoncé Charts (@beycharts) August 2, 2022
Beyoncé received backlash after “Renaissance” dropped because she used the word “spaz,” which is viewed by the disabled community and those in the UK as an ableist slur. In the track titled “Heated,” the mother of three says: “Sp*zzin’ on that a**, sp*z on that a**.” She recently changed the lyric to “blast.”
People on Twitter created a discussion centering AAVE and the Black community. Some people stated the artist shouldn’t have changed AAVE because for the Black community and in the US, it is a verb, not a noun, which is why it is not a slur.
People Discuss AAVE In Relation To The Ableist Term
A person tweeted:
AAVE is not ” Internet Talk ” or ” Gen Z language ” it’s literally the way I speak around my people. Most of the time non-black-pocs who use AAVE be speaking Imaginary black English nd it don’t even be soundin right or grammatically correct.
— CRAISHON 🌙 (@theonlycraishon) August 2, 2022
Another person said:
Disabled Black Americans are literally saying it’s a slur. This word didn’t originate with AAVE and its connotations have always been negative. Idk why y’all acting like this is a sacred word that dare not be touched https://t.co/TgIR9dawd4
— African Aunty (@The_ninety8) August 2, 2022
Someone else added:
BLACK DISABLED PEOPLE EXIST. Yes, Black people are unfairly held to a higher standard. But, that does not lessen the validity of the concern. Spaz is an ableist slur, stop trying to make everything untouchable AAVE because you don’t want to understand the intersections. https://t.co/bAH5bLICcG
— future tracee ellis ross type auntie ™ (@femmesnfilms) August 2, 2022
A person also expressed:
The noun may be offensive, but the verb form is literally apart of AAVE. Everybody and their momma gets to call us the n-word, but here comes everyone to police our speech. Neither dictionary definition make sense in the context of the song—Clearly, we aren’t using a slur.
— Baby Meli 🇯🇲 (@Melani_Amber) August 2, 2022
Another person added:
The white disabled community needs to confront its racism.
As a Black disabled woman, I see how Lizzo, Beyonce, and Black women artists are targeted and accused of ableism. The same criticism is not reserved for white artists who use ableist language. https://t.co/edhuxiLu3T
— Ola Ojewumi (@Olas_Truth) August 1, 2022
Lizzo Receives Backlash For Using Ableist Term
If you recall, Lizzo also changed a lyric to a song after receiving backlash for using the same word. In the track “Grrrl’s,” Lizzo stated: “Do you see this s**t/I’mma spazz.” But she changed the song to “Do you see this s**t/Hold me back.”
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She released an apology to her fans and said in part:
It’s been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song “GRRRLS.” Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language. As a fat black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally).
Roomies, what do you think of this?
