Quick recap for those living under a rock: this week rapper Lizzo proved that she really is "that bitch”. Lizzo has been sued by former dancers who made various claims about bullying, sexual harassment and body-shaming. Everyone is furious. Lizzo and her flute have been cancelled. And the latest is that the Minneapolis rapper has hired NY-based lawyer Marty Singer aka The Fixer which means two things: she's guilty and she'll get off. (Marty's client list includes Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Sheen, Bill Cosby, Chris Brown, Jonah Hill and Johnny Depp).
People are reacting to this news about Lizzo like they have been personally duped. They are hurt, disappointed, and at a loss for where to put their rage. My question is why? Why the surprise? It's not news that your favorite popstars are assholes, is it? You will not arrive here on this page and read a defence of Lizzo by me. I believe her victims and have no idea what their motivation could possibly be in coming forward were they not telling the truth. Also the past few years in my own personal life renders me just about the last person on earth to come forward and stand up for spineless artists in the music business. Besides I did plenty for Lizzo. I wrote her first significant album review in the NME ten years ago when no one gave a crap. I interviewed her for NYLON when no one knew her name. I profiled her in the centerfold of Playboy, which is about as progressive as you can get. I have done enough standing up for Lizzo. But my caveat is this: EVERYONE in music is a dick. That's not an excuse, it's just a fact and a problem.
Now I'm about as woke as a snooze button on your alarm clock, but I have to point out that there are many people currently rubbing their hands in glee to have caught out a plus-sized Black woman with a loud mouth for the same obnoxious, bullying behavior that way too many hugely successful people in entertainment get away with day in day out. (FYI if you ever want to know who is a goodie and who is a baddie, I am never wrong and will happily tell you in a darkened alleyway behind Sunset Boulevard). Point being there's a reason you hear the folklore stories about that one time x or y band were so gracious that they didn't even piss in the eyes of the staff at whichever venue. Everyone is accustomed to THE WORST antics from famous stars. They just put up with it, and in turn these people don't have any accountability. In fact, the more popular they are, and the greater their reputation for being some sort of patron saint and martyr, generally the more horrific shit they get away with.
Expose Lizzo, certainly. But make sure to ask yourself this -- why is it so much easier to expose her than it is say literally anyone else? Take one example I can pluck from the top of my head right now. Roger Waters is on tour flying inflatable pigs with Stars of David on them in venues all over the world, and you're telling me that Roger Waters isn't a bully behind-the-scenes? Nobody's suing him. The industry rewards narcissistic abuse. And sometimes women at the top are there because they behaved like men. I read an excellent book recently by Claire Dederer called “Monsters”, and it analyzes the relationship we have or don't have with art by people who have been “cancelled”. She argues that for men, all this rotten behavior is just a part of their so-called genius. For women, it's the self-fulfilling diva prophecy that then kills opportunity for all future girls. Call out Lizzo, sure. But don’t forget homeboy.
The burning question, however, that absolutely nobody has asked amid the screeds of internet real estate that this has taken up this week is about the rise in para-social relationships with celebrities. Why does everyone want to believe in Lizzo? Think about it. So many people have bought her shtick wholesale without question. Pump out some bar mitzvah adjacent R&B hits and preach a message about how beauty is more than skin deep, and suddenly the whole world is ready to go to your church. (Didn't she have a song titled 'Worship Me'?) But seriously why would you believe in someone you don't know? Lizzo is just as flawed a human being as the person in your peripheral view right now. It would make more sense to start believing in “God” again.
But this godlike status that people en masse bestow upon celebrities is part of the issue. The more believers they have, the less they begin to behave with humanity. Cancel culture is an emotional response, right? And it makes sense that once a person is shown to be who they really are, their disciples go apeshit with rage because now a part of their own identity has also been compromised. You can't identify with Lizzo any more. She's no longer your “people”. She's just a person, who made some massive errors in judgment. And then what happens to the message?
Having that much faith in people you don't know and will never know is only going to bring diminishing returns, for everyone involved. I get it – the marketing is strong. We are bludgeoned over the head with branding to make us think we know them, but we don't. There's a lot more to believe in that's worth your time. Start with the people in your real life. They need you more than the star you’ll never meet.
As the late, great, Hunter Thompson once wrote, "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
The negative side is that sometimes even artists who are generally pretty decent people can pull off some monumentally stupid and duplicitous shit. Talent, money, or power doesn't guarantee that people who are admired won't turn out to have feet of clay.
I've never understood how some fans can get wrapped up in the image of a celebrity. I like music and I even love some music, but I never mistook the marketing image as reality. I actually feel bad for some celebrities as I believe the public life they have to live isn't psychologically healthy and probably turns many decent people into jerks. I did know a woman back in the early 90's who was a road manager at one time. She did say Janet Jackson was wonderful to everyone, but she also had some negative commentary on other stars that will remain nameless.