Lizzo Says She Was Canceled Throughout Her Career
Obviously, you know Lizzo.
It's not a stretch to say Lizzo's career has had its share of ups and downs over the last several years. Three years after her "About Damn Time" was the #1 song in the US, she recently returned with several singles that failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. More notably, Lizzo faced several lawsuits in 2023 for alleged sexual harassment and other claims, which she's since addressed publicly. (At least one of the lawsuits is still ongoing.)
In a new episode of the Therapuss podcast, Lizzo contemplated her career at large and claimed that she's been "canceled" numerous times since becoming famous.
'I've been canceled a lot," she said. "I shouldn't say I've been canceled, because I'm still going, but I've gotten backlash a lot. Literally every single time I've received backlash I use it as a growing and learning lesson."
In the interview, Lizzo also reflected on the backlash she faced after her song "Good As Hell" appeared in a Weight Watchers commercial in 2019, shortly after Oprah Winfrey bought the company.
'It was like, 'Oprah wants to use your song,' I lost my mind," she recalled feeling at the time. "I was like, 'Oh my god Oprah knows who I am!' I was like, 'Yes! Yes.'"
'I remember posting the commercial because I was so proud and everybody was like, 'You're fucking joking right, like this is promoting eating disorders. And I was like, 'Oh my god.' It broke my heart. It truly broke my heart.'
If I may, for a moment: Being in the public eye seems miserable, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, really. That said! If you are appearing on a podcast talking about how you've been "canceled" — especially after you're still signed to a major label that releases your music, and you're booking promising film roles — I think it's well worth examining if being "canceled" is even a thing.
Anyway, whatever. You can listen to the entire episode with Lizzo here.
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A Complete Timeline of All the Allegations in the Diddy Trial: Freak Offs, Kid Cudi's Car and More
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She said her husband, Alex Fine, stopped her, and the duo are currently expecting baby No. 3. The pair, who tied the knot in 2019, share daughters Frankie and Sunny, born in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Keep scrolling for a complete timeline of all the allegations that have been mentioned during the Diddy trial: Cassie Details Freak Offs in Testimony During Diddy Trial: 'Eventually It Became a Job for Me' Capricorn Clark, who formerly worked as an assistant for Diddy, claimed the mogul and a bodyguard known as Uncle Paulie brought her to Central Park and threatened her after finding out she'd previously worked for Suge Knight. Diddy allegedly told her 'if anything happened [with Suge] he would have to kill me.' That same year, Clark was allegedly accused of stealing jewelry from Jacob Arabo, a.k.a. Jacob the Jeweler. She claimed she was forced to undergo five days of lie detector testing about the incident. Cassie (full name Casandra Ventura) testified that she met Diddy for the first time when she was 19. She soon signed a 10-album deal with his record label, Bad Boy. Cassie's first and only album, which was self-titled, debuted in August. It spawned the hit single 'Me & U,' which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. None of the other albums in the deal ever came out, which Cassie alleged was entirely Diddy's decision as she recorded 'hundreds' of songs. The defense, meanwhile, tried to point out instances where Diddy was supportive of Cassie. 'Words were helpful,' Cassie said in response to a question about how her ex would build her up. 'He's got that energy, that inspiring energy.' Clark, for her part, claimed Diddy got violent with her this year while she was staying with him at his home on Star Island in Miami Beach. 'He charged me,' she alleged, claiming he pushed her backward on her shoulders. She briefly stopped working for Bad Boy thereafter because 'that was crossing my boundary.' During her May 14 testimony, Cassie alleged that her first kiss with Diddy happened at her 21st birthday party in Los Angeles. At that point he was her boss, but they were not yet dating. She told the court that she cried and ran away after the kiss because she wasn't used to an employer behaving in that way. After the party, Cassie claimed Diddy began inviting her to meetings in hotel rooms, where she believed they would discuss her career. Instead, Diddy allegedly 'introduced' her to oral sex and 'made me feel crazy for not reciprocating' after he performed it on her for the first time. She added she was 'completely sexually inexperienced' at the time and dating someone else. In response, the defense showed the jury texts between Cassie and ex-boyfriend Ryan Leslie in an attempt to prove that she was not sexually inexperienced when she met Diddy. 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Cassie claimed that she participated in her first freak off when she was 22, alleging that Diddy arranged for a male dancer to have sex with her early in their relationship. She claimed they took ecstasy and drank alcohol during the encounter. While she felt 'dirty' afterward, she felt she couldn't say no to more freak offs, which she said happened almost weekly after the first time and continued through 2017 or 2018. During cross-examination, the defense pointed to loving text messages Cassie sent to Diddy as evidence that she willingly participated in freak offs in order to please him. 'I'm always ready for a freak-off lolol,' she wrote to him at one point. The same year of Cassie's first freak off, Diddy allegedly ordered his assistant David James and other members of his entourage to confront his rival Suge Knight in the parking lot of a diner. James claimed that his former boss had three handguns on his lap when he made the alleged request. 'I was really shook up by it,' James told the court. 'My life was in danger.' Cassie testified that she witnessed this alleged incident as well, telling the jury that one of Diddy's security guards interrupted a freak off to tell him about Knight's location. She also claimed she was given a gun to put in her purse, and this 'terrified' her. The defense questioned James about why he didn't object when Diddy asked him to look for Knight. 'Respectfully, sir, you have someone with three guns that close proximity, I didn't think I had the option to say something,' he told attorney Marc Agnifilo before agreeing with the lawyer's claim that the incident was 'a radical departure' from usual events during his time working for Diddy. 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