WELL, Lizzo has been called out by London musician Mina Lioness after she reportedly filed to trademark the iconic lyric “100 per cent that bitch” – a lyric Lioness says she actually came up with.
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As The Blast reported in June, Lizzo filed to trademark the lyrics for a slew of merch including t-shirts, jackets, beanies, hats, bandanas, and wristbands. As you would, there’s bulk money to be made there. But Lioness claims that Lizzo copied her, and she wants credit. News of the trademark didn’t really hit mainstream Twitter until yesterday and since then, a handful of users have tweeted @ Lizzo with receipts.
Okay so Lioness tweeted the phrase back in February 25, 2017. ‘Truth Hurts’ was released in September, 2017.
I did a DNA test and found out I’m 100% that bitch.
— mina (@MinaLioness) February 25, 2017
She said the idea for the tweet “came from me making jokes about Demi Lovato saying she took a DNA test and found out that she’s 1% African.” Her tweet went absolutely boonta on the internet and was reposted – without credit or with someone else’s name attached to it – on IG, Facebook, and Tumblr. But Lioness has always claimed that she was the very first person to tweet it.
Fast forward to February 2018 and ‘Truth Hurts’ has been released. Lioness is fuming. And Lizzo has responded to the claims because people were just straight up calling her a thief.
“I’ve never seen this before in my life. That’s crazy,” she tweeted. “But you know, there’s 10 BILLION people on the planet. The odds of multiple people having the same idea are VERY high.”
Lioness just wasn’t having it.
Now everyone believes those were your words, when in fact they were mine. My creativity, my wit and my comedy.
— mina (@MinaLioness) February 9, 2018
YIKES.
Lizzo replied and explained that the song was written in June after she saw a meme on IG. She added that she had never seen the “viral tweet” before but was glad it existed. And Lizzo said that she has credited the meme whenever anyone has asked her about the making of the song.
Again, Lioness wasn’t having it.
Inspirational or not, when it’s not your words and you use it for your own gain you still give credit to who said it. I am the creator of that meme, the writers credit lands here.
— mina (@MinaLioness) February 9, 2018
AND THEN, we fast forward to yesterday when all the trademark business turned heads.
“What I cannot get over is how brazen Lizzo and her team have been ignoring my whole presence,” Lioness tweeted. “They’re doing it because they know I have no capital to address her. I’m just the poor Black girl from London that don’t have a dog in a fight.”
“I would have supported through and though as long as I was credited,” she continued.
All these Black Women in the industry that have been ripped off and stolen from… and Lizzo sat back and let her co-writer steal from me?
— mina (@MinaLioness) August 28, 2019
Lizzo has yet to respond to Lioness’ most recent tweets and honestly, I don’t think she will. The whole thing is just messy as hell.
