Billie Eilish Removes Her Shirt During Concert to Protest Body Shaming

Billie Eilish kicked her first tour off with a bold statement on her first stop in Miami. At the start of the 18-year-old’s performance at American Airlines Arena, Eilish took her shirt off in efforts to eliminate body-shaming. The fan who took the video caught the entire moment on camera. While it didn’t actually show the “Bad Guy” singer on stage stripping it down, she did show a recorded video up on the big screens that showed her taking her top off wearing nothing but a black sports bra.

“Some people hate what I wear, some people praise it, some people use it to shame others, some people use it to shame me, but I feel you watching — always — and nothing I do goes unseen. So while I feel your stares, your disapproval or your sigh or relief, if I lived by them, I’d never be able to move,” the singer reportedly said in a monologue according to Entertainment Tonight. “Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller? Would you like me to be quiet? Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach? My hips? The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted?”

“If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I’m a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why?” she continued. “We make assumptions about people based on their size. We decide who they are, we decide what they’re worth. If I wear more, if I wear less, who decides what that makes me? What that means? Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”

Since Eilish grew to fame, she’s carried her signature style with a more baggier look than some. She tends to wear baggy pants, baggy shirts and fans love her for it. However, she made it clear in her statement that she’s being criticized for it as well. But as fans screamed in favor of her move, so did Jennifer Lopez and her daughter Emme as they met with the young talent backstage for a group hug!

Eilish has come forward with admitting that she’s stopped reading comments about her because it was “ruining” her “life.” She said she had the best of intentions on staying in touch with her fans but since so many negative comments have come through, she says it’s ruined it for her.

Photo credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty.