Lizzo Thanks Activists in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo, Offers Support for College Protests
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Lizzo said Monday she wished to extend a “personal thank-you” to activists working against genocides in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo, also saying student protests in the United States are “deeply important.”
In a video posted to Instagram which the singer noted was “long overdue,” Lizzo said she wanted “to take a second and give a personal thank-you to all of the activists who have been working tirelessly to help the liberation and the freedom of the people who have been genocided all over the world, specifically Palestine, Sudan and the Congo.”
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The “2 Be Loved” singer went on to note that she “has worked closely with activists” in the past and thus knows “the toll it can take on your mental and your physical [health], and it can feel thankless,” she said. “So if you haven’t heard today, thank you. Your work is not in vain. You have helped so many people; you have saved literal lives.”
She went on to offer a “life update” regarding her relatively quiet public image over the last year, saying: “I was in a deep dark depression. I had some mental health crises and episodes over the last nine months, and I was not present.”
In August and September, several of Lizzo’s former dancers accused the singer of sexual harassment and other workplace grievances in a series of complaints that are reportedly now on hold while Lizzo appeals a ruling that allowed the case to move forward. Months after denying the claims, she posted a cryptic message online in March, telling fans, “I quit” (she later clarified that she was not quitting music, but rather, “I quit giving any negative energy attention.”)
“Between the loss I experienced in my personal life and the state of the world, I had been rendered into an emotional state where I cannot process or handle anything. It was very dark,” Lizzo continued on Monday. “I’m not saying this to make excuses, nor do I want sympathy. I just haven’t been able to be transparent with y’all in a long time.”
She went on to say it was the hard work of activists around the globe who have motivated her to get back to herself. “Y’all have really motivated me to get my ass up and get back to who I am,” she said.
She finished her message with a shoutout to the many “anti-genocide, anti-war” student protests taking place on campuses around the country, saying “what these students have done and are doing is so deeply important. I can’t even express it in one video.”
Lizzo also cited the work of Operation Olive Branch, a grassroots aid organization supporting families in Palestine. She said she would speak with other activists and return soon with “more information on how you can help these ongoing genocides in the world, because we ain’t free until we all free.”
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