The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Lizzo’s “Grrrls” Lyric Controversy - Between The Scenes

Episode Date: June 18, 2022

Trevor on Lizzo’s “Grrrls” lyric controversy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Can we talk about this Lizzo thing for a second? Did you see what happened with Lizzo? So for those of you who don't know, Lizzo has a new song out, Girls Z. It's a really fun song, it's really popular, it's on all the charts and everything. And in the song, Lizzo has one of her lyrics where she says spas, like we're gonna spas out,

you know, which Americans commonly know as means like go crazy, have fun, throw party, whatever. You can use in like multiple different ways, fun ways. What's interesting was that that somebody tweeted to Lizzo and they said to her, hey, just so you know, spas is a word that's that is that is that is that is that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's to her, hey, just so you know, Spaz is a word that is used specifically, you know, it's a derogatory term used to describe people who have disabilities and they used that comedy like the UK and Australia, you know, and they were like, oh yeah, this is, you know, how I feel about this. And then Lizzo, which is really gracious, Lizzo, has changed the lyrics, so she went th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thr, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. And, th. And, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, toge, toge, and, toge, and, toge, toge, toge, toge, toge, toge, toge, toge, toge, thr.. And, changed the lyric of the song. So she went back, changed the

lyric and she was like, hey, I didn't mean to do that, so I'll change the lyric. Very gracious of her, you know? Yeah. But what was weird is that the story didn't end there. That's the weird thing. What happened since then is people had been piling on Lizzo, shitting on her from the highest heights. Like people being like, I'm still disappointed in you, Lizzo. This was disgusting from you, and I'm, you've lost a fan, and I don't care that you have changed it, what matters is you said it in the first place, and you know for you to use somebody, you hurt people's feeling. And I was like, okay, like, look, can we just, can we just pause for a second?

I know people on the internet like to engage in conversations that aren't discussions, but really are just like mobs that pile on somebody for not knowing everything about everywhere all at once. But can we, can we acknowledge that Lizzo basically did exactly what society has been asking people to do? Right? She stepped in, she said, oh, this is not what I intended, and so I'm going to change this for you, for you. Which is extremely gracious. I will change it for you. Not for me, but for you. Because black people in America have been using spares completely innocuously as a different word. And then I understand that in another country they use another word, and it means means, thiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th I understand that in another country they use another word and it means something else.

Someone finds it offensive. But that happens all the time. You know, in the UK they use fag for cigarettes. Good like getting used to that when you're there. He's walking around people like, oh can I bomb a fag and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's happening here? All right, but that's, they're like, they, they's like, they's like, they's like, they're like, they're, they're like, they're, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, they're like, thi. that, that's like, that's like, that's like, that's, that's, I that's that's thi, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th.. th. th.... th. th.. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi, thi, thi, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, thatthey're like, no, that's not what we mean. And you understand that. I feel like we're living in a world

where people have gotten so used to, you know, parading as the most virtuous or as the, you know, just like the most righteous person, that they've gone to a point where they make it seem like language has no nuance, language has no context, which is even more important, and then they want to imply that there is some sort of intention on people even when they isn't. Right? Of all the people you can come for, all the people. Lizzo is one of the most inclusive, just like aware, just like loving. She's always trying to bring people into the conversation in her music videos, in her music,

in her life. You're gonna shit on her? For making not even a mistake, by the way. I don't even call that a mistake. It's just not knowing how everyone uses every word in every country all the time. I don't call that a mistake. You know in South Africa, we have a word that we say for those kinds of thing, we say, Esan. And Eshan just basically means like, wow, uh, it's like, yeah, the thing, you weren't wrong, I wasn't wrong, it's like, like, something happened, that

wasn't great, but nobody's almost like, to blame for the thing. And so you can have a conversation about it. I don't know what happened. We no longer live in a world where someone can say, hey, actually, you know where I'm from, this means that. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th. th the, th. the, th. th. th. th. the, th. the, th. th. th. th. th the, the, th the, the, thi. the, th. the, the, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the thing, the thing, the thing, the thing, the thing, the thing, the thing, the thing, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. the, the, th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. thin. th th the. the. the. the. thi. the. thi. thi. th. this means that. Oh, I didn't know that. Now that I do, I'm not going to say it because I'm not trying to do that. Lizzo can't get in a time machine. You know, people like, she shouldn't have said it in the first place. Yeah, she said it. And she changed it. Now what you want her to do? What you want her to do? to do. What? What? What? What? W. W. W. I? W. I? W. W. I? W. W. W. W. to do? W. to say? W. to say? W. to say? W. to say? W. to say? W. to say? I'm? I'm? I'm, to say? to say? to say? to say? to say? to say? to say? I'm to say? I'm to say? I to say? I to say? I to say? I to say? I to say? I to say? I to say? I I to say? I. to say? I. to say? I? I. to say? I. to say? I? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I. to say? I'm to say? the. toe. the. the. the. the. th. the. the. the. the. th. the. toe. th. th are you still piling in? And what was interesting is I find this so interesting how you have these circles of people who claim to be woke or claim to be whatever, but then they use this as an opportunity to pile on Lizzo now, you know? Now they come in there and then they're just like, oh yeah, as a opportunity to just let your massage a noir out. That's what you're doing. You've seen an opportunity for

you to be shitty to this this black woman and now you're like, yeah I can get her and be like, no I'm doing that to defend the disabled community. No you're not. You know what I mean? Don't bring in up. You your shittiness and to try and cloud it in something else. You know? It's like this weird pylon, pylon, pylon thing that happens. Words and the context matter. I really don't think it's healthy for us to be living in a world where people can say or do a thing that they don't know is a bad thing and then we treat them as if they did know that it is a bad thing. You know, the words that change all over the world. And I'm not giving blanket, I know someone's going to be like, whoa, you say what are you saying, Trevor, I can say the N-word and because I didn't know, the end word. The end word

never meant anything else. No one's ever used it another way. You know. There was like some country where they're like, oh, a nigger is a warm fire that you can sit by at night to warm your hands. Come and join me by the nigger family. That's not a thing. So I'm not saying that. The context of words matters, the nuance matters. If you're gonna live in a world where people chew you up for their too for apologizing, and being accountable, that's thi, th........... to, to, thi. thi. that, that's, that's, that's, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that. that. that. that's not. that's not. that. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that.. that..... to. to.. to. th. th. th. to. the. the. the. the the the the th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. that's not. that's not. the the that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's not. that's I made a mistake. I don't think she did, but I think what she did on top of it was really gracious. She said, you know what, I, you know, she came out and said, I wasn't trying to do this,

but I'm going to try and make your life a little better. I'm going to try and, you know, put a bit of bomb this, on this hurt that you. out of here man. No. Absolutely enough. Watch the Daily Show, Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.