Facebook is removing hateful and harassing comments on Lizzo’s social media accounts in the wake of an onslaught of internet trolls bullying her for her weight, race, and more.
The singer has been candid on social media in the last few days, sharing with fans what it’s felt like to be on the receiving end of hate. Many online critics have been fat-shaming the singer and making racist remarks against her following the release of her recent collaboration with Cardi B on the song “Rumors.”
In an emotional video about what’s been happening in her comments, on Twitter and beyond, the “Truth Hurts” rapper said through tears: “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.”
She also posted a TikTok video speaking out the harmful “mammy” trope — a stereotype of Black women who were nurses for white children particularly in the southern United States — which has been used against her in recent days.
“These people who are saying this are probably the same people who are mad when I’m being hyper-sexual and the mammy trope is actually desexualized. So it can’t both be true — make it make sense,” she said. “I really think people are just mad to see a fat Black woman that makes pop music and is happy. ... But this doesn’t even bother me because Aretha Franklin was criticized by the Black church when she came out, Whitney Houston was booed, and Beyonce received criticism early in her career.”
A spokesperson for Facebook told HuffPost that it has been reviewing posts and taking down those that break their rules against hate speech and harassment. The spokesperson indicated that the company will continue to do so.
According to Facebook’s community standards, the platform defines hate speech “as a direct attack against people [on the basis of] race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and serious disease.”
“We define attacks as violent or dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation. We also prohibit the use of harmful stereotypes, which we define as dehumanizing comparisons that have historically been used to attack, intimidate, or exclude specific groups, and that are often linked with offline violence,” its policy says.