Lizzo makes music for a specific audience in mind, and like many other artists, she can get frustrated with how it can be misconstrued for unintended purposes. Per Billboard, she recently took to TikTok to react to United States President Donald Trump's military birthday parade in Washington, D.C. on Saturday (June 14).
The reason why the singer reacted is because a performer took to the stage with a rendition of Lizzo's "About Damn Time." In her TikTok response, she stitched footage from the performance with a video of her disgusted face, captioning the clip with "cease & desist."
While it's unclear who exactly was performing this song, USA TODAY reports that the lineup for the celebration included DJ Nyla Symone, Lee Greenwood, Scotty Hasting, Noah Hicks, and Warren Zeiders. It's also unclear if Lizzo is serious about legal action or if this was just a joke for TikTok.
Either way, she understandably took issue with this performance, likely because no one presumably reached out to her for permission. Many recording contracts and copyright issues relate to the distribution of material, but there are performance caveats to take into account as well.
Lizzo "About Damn Time" Performance
Nevertheless, this callout should not come as much of a shock. Lizzo has been very critical of Donald Trump for years now.
"I want real change, and I know what it takes to see real change on a systemic level," she expressed on social media. "Protests bring attention to demands. Marches without demands bear no fruit. Demands without a plan or an ultimatum aren’t threatening to any regime. This system was built by white people to their economic benefit. The corruption happening today is white supremacy. It cannot be destroyed from the outside. White people have to come together & educate themselves on the system & be willing to be uncomfortable in it. Unify."
More specifically, Lizzo blasted Donald Trump's current efforts to lead his administration. Whether that's on social media or through policy, it's been controversial either way.
"THE WHITE HOUSE IS USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO TROLL US," she stated online. "THE PRESIDENT DGAF ABOUT TONE POLICING HIMSELF. REPUBLICANS ARE TALKING OUT THEY NECKLACE TO JOURNALISTS. WE HAVE TO BE BOLDER."
