Lizzo Breaks Down in Emotional Social Media Confession, Cardi B Swoops in With Support

Lizzo should be celebrating the release of her new single “Rumors,” featuring Cardi B, but the negative responses the song received led to her posting an emotional Instagram Live video over the weekend. The 33-year-old Grammy winner was in tears as she talked about the racist and fat-phobic attacks she saw on social media. Cardi was quick to come to Lizzo‘s defense on Twitter.

“On the days I feel I should be the happiest… I feel so down,” Lizzo said in the video, which is no longer on her Instagram page, reports Yahoo! Entertainment. “Like, I hurt so bad,” she said as she dabbed her eyes in her bathroom. She did not describe the hateful comments she saw in detail, noting that she did not want to “give them power.” She noted that people were “saying s—” about her that did not make sense. “It’s fat-phobic, and it’s racist and it’s hurtful,” she said. “If you don’t like my music, cool. If you don’t like ‘Rumors’ the song, cool. But a lot of people don’t like me because of the way I look.”

She was working “quadruple” the time to make the new single and music video, but she felt underappreciated. “Sometimes I feel like the world just don’t love me back,” Lizzo said in the 13-minute live session. “It’s like it doesn’t matter how much positive energy you put into the world, you’re still going to have 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.”

The “Good as Hell” rapper also defended herself against allegations that she was making music specifically for white people. “I’m not making music for white people,” she said. “I’m not making music for anybody. I’m a Black woman making music. I make Black music, period. I’m not serving anyone by myself… Everyone’s invited.”

She also said she was “over” the body-shaming comments she has faced her entire career. instead, she wants to focus on positive comments. “I don’t have time for your negativity, your internalized self-hatred that you protect onto me with your racism and your fatphobia,” I don’t have time for it. Anyways, I’m going to continue to be me. I’m going to be continue to be a bad b—.”

Lizzo also commented on the abuse Black women, “especially us big Black girls,” face on social media. At the end of the video, Lizzo assured fans she was doing well, thanking those who support her and assuring her fans there will be more music. “F— the haters… haters gonna do what they do. They don’t know I do it for the motherf—ing culture,” she said.

“Loving yourself in a world that don’t love u back takes an incredible amount of self-awareness & a bulls— detector that can see through a— backwards societal standards,” Lizzo wrote on Twitter Sunday. “If u managed to love yourself today I’m proud of u. If u haven’t, I’m still proud of u. This s—’s hard.”

Lizzo’s “Rumors” collaborator Cardi was among the celebrities quick to show their support for the rapper. “When you stand up for yourself they claim your problematic & sensitive,” Cardi wrote in one tweet, including a portion of Lizzo’s video. “When you don’t they tear you apart until you crying like this. Whether you skinny, big, plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you. Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”

In other tweets, Cardi blasted critics who suggested that “Rumors” was not a big hit, even though the song is only a few days old. “‘Rumors’ is doing great,” Cardi wrote in one tweet, adding screenshots of where the song stands on major streaming charts. “Stop trying to say the song is flopping to dismiss a woman emotions on bullying or acting like they need sympathy,” she wrote. “The song is top 10 on all platforms. Body shaming and callin her mammy is mean & racist as f—.”