Demi Lovato’s ridiculously privileged crusade against frozen yogurt shop



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reDespite the litany of social media controversies involving top-notch celebrities targeting journalists, TV writers, and non-famous users – and the corresponding discourse on these power dynamics – in recent years, celebrities are still exerting their influence over the years. irresponsible way for the most absurd complaints.

The latest is an incident involving Demi Lovato and a popular frozen yogurt store in Los Angeles called The Bigg Chill. After calling the company on its Instagram on Sunday for displaying and selling sugar-free cookies and other health foods, the former Disney star explains her role in the drama saga after experiencing backlash online.

“I got into a situation that wasn’t right for me,” Lovato said in an Instagram video on Monday. “My intuition told me to talk about it, so I did. And I feel good about it. What I don’t like is the way it was interpreted and how the message was misinterpreted. “

The incident, which unfolded fairly quickly, began with a few paragraphs Lovato posted on his Instagram Stories calling out the company’s “harmful posts” and allowing “messy eating”.

“It’s extremely difficult to order Froyo at @TheBiggChillOfficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar-free cookies / other health foods before you get to the counter,” Lovato wrote with the hashtag #dietculturevulture. “PLEASE DO BETTER.”

The “Dancing With The Dark” singer also posted a direct message exchange between her and The Bigg Chill’s Instagram account in which the store claims they are “not diet culture vultures” and apologizes. for having offended her. The store also defended itself on its Instagram Stories, tagging Lovato and writing, “We have items for diabetics, celiac disease, vegans and, of course, plenty of indulgent items.”

Still, Lovato refused to give in to this reasoning, telling the company their service was “terrible” and explaining that eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness “at opiod. [sic] overdoses. Later, presumably after the singer received some rejection on social media, she suggested that the company label their snacks as intended for people with dietary restrictions and vegans so as not to “exclude a group. demographic by addressing others ”.

While the singer’s claims that seeing the store’s diet options sparked her much-publicized struggle with bulimia obviously cannot be disputed, Lovato has received accusations on social media that her appeal to the small business owned to women was not only impulsive and uninformed, but irresponsible given her. an aggressive online fan base that has a habit of sending death threats to people Lovato has argued with.

This phenomenon – which is ubiquitous in most stan communities of big pop stars – is actually something that Lovato has repeatedly addressed and condemned, unlike many of his famous colleagues, including Taylor Swift, who recently exposed. Ginny and Georgia Actress Antonia Gentry to hate online after publicly complaining about being joked on the show, and Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, who called Pop of the day host Morgan Stewart and “bloggers” in general on social media after accusing the premiere of lip-syncing in 2019. In 2014, Lovato wrote a long post asking his “Lovatics” to stop sending lip-syncing threats. Death to comedian Kathy Griffin after responding to someone who asked her who the “biggest celebrity shower” was on social media with her name on it. (A year later, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Griffin claimed law enforcement needed to get involved.)

More recently, Lovato approached the issue with insight in his YouTube documentary series. Demi Lovato: Dancing with the devil which premiered in March. In the third episode, her friend and former Creative Director Dani Vitale revealed that she receives thousands of hate messages and death threats daily after fans accused her of administering drugs to Lovato before she died. suffered an almost fatal overdose in 2018. Lovato acknowledged that while she has “amazing” fans, they can be “offline” and “not always have all the information.”

Lovato acknowledged that while she has “amazing” fans, they can be “offline” and “not always have all the information.”

Journalist Rachel Brodsky, who called on pop stars like Swift, Grande and Lana Del Rey to address the harassment and doxxing culture among their fans online in an article for The independent, called this moment in Lovato’s docu-series “extremely rare”. It is disappointing then that this awareness of the harm that her fans are capable of inflicting with or without her will has not spread to her own actions over the weekend, possibly because she was able to present her appeal. to his 102 million Instagram followers as an act of service to people with eating disorders despite the awkwardness of his execution.

But as many have pointed out on social media, including the employees of The Bigg Chill, making and selling sugar-free food is not inherently fatphobic or encourages eating disorders, given that there are a significant number of consumers suffering from health problems that make the diet. dangerous or even fatal sugar. Additionally, a person’s decision to opt for a sugar-free snack may be driven by a handful of other factors that do not include an unhealthy relationship with food, such as taste preference, maintenance of a balanced diet, dental health or just not wanting. exceed their recommended daily sugar intake, which all humans of all sizes should be aware of. There is also the obvious fact that diet foods and drinks are sold in virtually every establishment that sells food, including grocery stores and big box stores, and are not universally triggers for people with eating disorders.

Even when Lovato defended himself Monday before his apology by posting a 5-year-old Instagram photo of The Bigg Chill of an Eat Me display, Guilt Free cookies (The Bigg Chill told TMZ they weren’t selling plus this product), his review would have been slightly better directed directly at the arguably problematic marketing of the snack brand rather than the single-location business which most likely relies, in part, on partnerships with other businesses. Even so, a culture that makes physical size a moral issue and encourages women to say it’s better to be thinner can’t be attributed to just one brand, especially in an age when nearly all influencers of celebrities are advertising diet drinks and detox teas and these quick results. The products can scam consumers by misusing positive body and health-oriented messages.

Given the number of notable flaws in Lovato’s weekend crusade, issuing a thorough apology for initiating the whole incident would seem like an obvious path to take, a la Ariana Grande when she found herself. disagreed with a local donut shop in 2015. But Lovato always maintained an upright stance, expressing interest in working with The Bigg Chill “to help align the message where [she] Feel[s] go there safely. Like many celebrities accustomed to a life of privilege and people who adhere to their every request, she still doesn’t understand that a business aimed at a diverse clientele doesn’t have to respect their personal needs, especially when it comes to respecting their personal needs. has the resources to have anything. the food she wants delivered to him by a personal assistant or can simply go to another frozen yogurt store where the diet foods are not on display.

If anything, Lovato’s latest lapse in judgment, as ridiculously distracting as it is bigger news, shows that not everyone with mental illness or oppressive beauty standards has the tools to be a effective voice for people sharing this experience.



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