Considered Offensive To People With Disabilities, Beyonce Chooses To Delete Heated Song Lyrics

Beyonce (Reuters via ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Beyonce will remove the use of terms that are considered insulting to people with disabilities in her new song Heated. The use of the word spaz has been criticized by activists for being offensive.

The US pop superstar will re-record the song, which is part of the latest Renaissance album. "That word, which was not used intentionally, will be replaced," a spokeswoman for Beyonce told AFP by email, quoted on Tuesday, August 2.

Co-written with Canadian rapper Drake, the song appears to use the word "spaz" in a colloquial sense to describe the act of temporarily losing control or acting erratically.

But disability activists note that the word comes from the word "spasticity". According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), spasticity is a movement disorder involving stiff muscles and awkward movements experienced by 80 percent of people with cerebral palsy.

Singer Lizzo had a similar experience in June who re-recorded her song "Grrrls" to remove terms deemed insulting to certain groups.

Australian disability activist Hannah Diviney said Beyonce's inclusion of the word was a slap in the face to the disability community and a slap to the advances made in the Lizzo case.

"I think I'm going to keep telling the entire industry to 'do better' until the word with connotations of disdain disappears from the music scene," Diviney tweeted.

Beyonce's seventh studio album "Renaissance" was released on Friday, July 29. The album has received positive reviews especially regarding the disco feel and electronic dance.

Other collaborators on the album also include Nile Rodgers, Skrillex, Nigerian singer Tems, Grace Jones, Pharrell, and Beyonce's husband, Jay-Z.

In an Instagram post soon after the album's release, Beyonce said that making the album allowed her to find a place to dream and find escape in the midst of a time that was scary for the world.

"My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free from perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, let go, feel free," Beyonce wrote, quoted by ANTARA.