Here’s Why Everyone’s Talking About Demi Lovato and an L.A. FroYo Shop

Rich Fury, Getty Images for OBB Media

Any trip to a frozen yogurt shop should be a sweet experience. However, for Demi Lovato, a visit to the Los Angeles-based The Bigg Chill left her feeling sour. Over the weekend, Lovato called the shop out on her Instagram Stories for selling sugar-free cookies and other "diet foods" using the hashtag #DietCultureVultures to reprimand their offerings, and now she's the one leaving a bad taste in people's mouths.

"Finding it extremely hard to order FroYo from @TheBiggChillOfficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter," Lovato wrote on her Story. "Do better please."

She then uploaded a DM conversation between herself and The Bigg Chill's Instagram page in which the shop attempted to explain that they offer a variety of different food options to "cater to all of our customers' needs." Lovato fired back that, "the whole experience was triggering...You can carry things for other people while also caring for another percentage of your customers who struggle DAILY just to even step foot in your shop."

"Don't make excuses," Lovato wrote back. "Just do better."

"It wasn't clear to me that [the offerings] were for specific health needs," Lovato explained in an Instagram video posted to her feed on Monday, April 19th. "I just took it as, okay, I'm going into a FroYo shop and I'm seeing sugar-free, I'm seeing this and that. If there was a sign that said 'Celiac,' 'Vegan,' I would have understood."

Though she admitted that she jumped to conclusions, she said she's "willing to talk to this FroYo shop to help get the messaging right." She continued, "People with eating disorders should be able to go in and feel safe wherever they go to eat."

Though Lovato's feelings cannot and should not be disputed, it's how she used her massive platform to harshly call out a women-owned small business that isn't sitting well with her following and beyond. This should have been a private conversation between Lovato and the owners of The Bigg Chill, and/or a general statement from Lovato about how food marketing can be triggering to those with eating disorders.

Others are arguing that Lovato's diatribe is reading like a privileged "Karen" moment—she's putting her needs above the needs of others. Her argument is that her mental illness is more important than someone else's diabetes, celiac, and other health diagnoses.

"My intentions were not to come in a bully a small business," Lovato summed up in her Monday video. "I walked in, was so triggered that I left without FroYo, and it made me really sad. And that's all it was." Sadly, the damage she caused was already done.

The top comments on her video further express fans' disappointment regarding her reaction. "Girl I'm not discrediting your struggle but what you did was so uncalled for & you didn't choose to apologize till after the media called you out on it," one follower wrote. "I don't buy this apology, sorry."

And some are also finding issue with Lovato's reasoning for calling out The Bigg Chill. "As someone with a chronic illness who has to eat a certain way...I don't want things labeled 'interstitial cystitis'" another person wrote. "It makes us feel worse and singled out."

A comment with over 6,400 likes pretty much sums up the situation perfectly. "Girl. I love you but you're reaching here." This very public "conversation" (that reads much more like an attack) maybe should have been kept in the DMs.