Yesterday, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and many of us were happily enjoying our Easter Sunday indoors. In lieu of the festivities Sean “Diddy” Combs invited a select group of celebrities to participate in his Dance-a-Thon on Instagram Live to raise money for Direct Relief, a nonprofit that “rushes critical medicines and requested supplies to communities affected by poverty or emergencies throughout the world. Sounds great, but things quickly went left.
Singer/Songwriter, and leader of the first COVID-19 mass meditation, Lizzo eagerly joined the festivities in hopes of having a good time and raising donations. The whole thing got a bit awkward when Diddy shut down Lizzo’s twerking, saying “Whoa, whoa, whoa! It’s Easter Sunday, let’s play something a little more family friendly.” Immediately, very flustered and embarrassed Lizzo apologized saying, “Sorry, sorry, sorry! Let’s do something fun. Well, don’t play that kind of… play something I can bop to.”
Diddy considered what song would be appropriate, and Lizzo offered up a suggestion, saying, “Play ‘Juice’ by Lizzo!”
I know what you’re thinking, it was indeed Easter Sunday and the “Truth Hurts” singer was turning up to the profanity-laced “1 2 3” by Moneybagg Yo and Blac Youngsta, makes sense! Yet, moments later Mr.Combs had model Draya Michele on his Dance-a-Thon twerking to Juvenile’s “Back Dat Azz Up,” an equally profane song that was met with not one, but numerous airhorns of encouragement.
“You killed that!” Diddy told Draya. “I think that was one of the top performances.”
Rightfully so, viewers were very displeased with the discrepancies, calling out the OG rapper in the comments.
Gracefully, Lizzo later reposted Diddy’s explanation from his own Instagram Stories, defending his decision and clarifying that there was no hidden animosity.
“There’s one thing that I want to make clear. My queen, my sister Lizzo, when I stopped the music it was ’cause it had a lot of curses in there, not ’cause she was twerking,” he said. “She’s one of the best twerkers in the world. Let’s keep that clear. It wasn’t about twerking. You’re allowed to twerk on Easter. There was a lot of cursing in the record. And I don’t need child services knocking on my door right now, you understand? So that’s why I stopped the record. Lizzo, we love you and everybody stop looking for the negative, look for the positive!”
While Puffy and Lizzo have seemingly made their peace, this event has opened up a much bigger discussion. Fans are discussing a range of issues from fat-shaming, to the policing of the female anatomy, to celebrities proper/improper behaviors on live streams. Though it remains unclear whether Diddy was in-fact perpetuating a double standard, we commend Lizzo for her positive attitude.
