Lizzo Cheekily Responds to Houston Rockets’ Open Invite: ‘I’ll Be There With Bells on My Booty’

NBA fans may be calling for her to be banned from the Staples Center, but Lizzo‘s rear-baring Lakers outfit just got her an official invite to the Houston Rockets. Days after the newly crowned TIME magazine’s Entertainer of the Year sparked controversy over her Sunday night ensemble, which she put on display during a little courtside twerking, Lizzo received an invite to attend another game, and she promised to up her own fashion game with bells this time.

After Lizzo responded with the promise to have “bells on my booty,” the Houston Rockets chimed in, “Let us know when.”

While the rapper, 31, has been making headlines the past year for her body positive anthems and hit singles, she recently found her name in the spotlight for an entirely different reason. While attending the Los Angeles Lakers versus Minnesota Timberwolves game Sunday night at Staples Center, she donned a black T-shirt dress that featured a cut-out behind, putting her thong and backside on display.

The outfit was immediately deemed inappropriate by some, who felt it unnecessary to bare that much skin in a setting where children are present. The backlash was so fierce, in fact, that some even called for the NBA to ban the “Truth Hurts” singer from future games.

Lizzo seems to be taking it all in stride, though, and she isn’t letting the controversy affect her message of embracing your body. Addressing the backlash in an Instagram Live video just one day after it happened, the musician proclaimed, “this is who I’ve always been.”

“Your criticism has no effect on me, negative criticism has no stake in my life, no control over my life, over my emotions,” she said in part. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been I’m surrounded by love and I just want to spread that love – and also spread these cheeks. And you know what? If you really, really don’t like my ass, you can kiss it. ‘Cause kissing it makes it go away, I promise…it doesn’t really matter what goes down on the internet, nothing really breaks my joy.”

Although the controversy is still swirling, with many celebrities coming to her defense, Lizzo said in a recent interview that she wants to “leave backlash on the internet in 2019.”