Lizzo faces her “biggest fear” of being parodied on “South Park.”
The 36-year-old “About Damn Time” singer took to TikTok to respond to the new “South Park” special, “South Park: The End of Obesity,” in which her music is featured as an alternative to Ozempic, saying that while she was initially horrified, she ultimately seemed pleased with the joke being made about her.
The “South Park” special, which premiered Friday, parodies the celebrity trend of using drugs like Ozempic and Maunjaro to lose weight, and shows the characters struggling to afford the medication. In the episode, “Rizzo” is promoted as an alternative to Ozempic, encouraging patients who can’t afford weight-loss drugs to embrace their bodies instead. Rizzo has been known to publicly embrace her body positively.
“FDA-approved Lizzo gives you weight confidence and is 90 percent less expensive than Ozempic,” a voiceover narrates in a commercial for the “South Park” special. “Case studies show that 70 percent of patients who take Lizzo no longer worry about their weight. Lizzo helps you eat all the things you love and exercise with minimal effort.”
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Lizzo began her TikTok by telling her fans, “Guys, my worst fears have come true. I was mentioned in an episode of South Park. This is so scary.”
She then filmed her reaction to a clip from the episode, holding her hand over her mouth in visibly shock as she watched a fake medical commercial for “Lizzo.” After the “South Park” clip ended, Lizzo said she was proud to have been on the show.
RizzoAfter slamming “lies being told about me,” she explains she has no plans to quit music
“It’s amazing,” she said, adding that “the guys from Colorado,” namely Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park,” knew her and “showed the world how to love yourself enough to put her on their cartoon, which has been running for 25 years.”
At the beginning of an episode of “South Park,” Eric Cartman’s doctor recommends he take weight-loss medication, but Cartman learns that it will cost $1,200 a month because his insurance won’t cover it. “Insurance companies only cover diabetes medications, they don’t cover weight-loss medications, so if you can’t afford it, you’re out of luck,” the doctor says. Instead, the doctor writes Cartman a “prescription for Rizzo.”
“She’s a really great singer and she talks about body positivity and being happy with the way you look,” the doctor said. “I want you to listen to Lizzo five times a day and watch her videos before you go to bed. Oh, I’m afraid you’re going to have to listen to Lizzo for the rest of your life.”
The Rizzo Lawsuit:Singer sued by dancers for “demoralizing” them with weight boasting and sexual harassment
Before the “South Park” episode, Lizzo was accused of harassment and weight-shaming
The South Park parody came after Lizzo was sued last year by several of her former dancers for harassment and weight-shaming.
“The way Lizzo and her management team have treated the performers seems to contradict everything Lizzo has publicly represented, while in private she has shamed dancers for their weight and degraded them in a manner that is not only illegal but completely demoralizing,” dancers’ attorney Ron Zambrano told USA Today at the time.
Lizzo has denied the allegations, and after sparking controversy with a social media post in March saying she was “quitting,” she clarified that she wasn’t quitting music, but rather “stopping directing negative energy.”
How to watch South Park: The End of Obesity
“South Park: The End of Obesity” is currently streaming on Paramount+.
Contributors: Morgan Hines and Naledi Uche, USA Today
