2023 NAACP Image Awards: 3 Times Lizzo Reminded Everyone Black Women Deserve To Be Celebrated
No one champions women, especially Black women, like multi-Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Lizzo. The 2020 NAACP Image Awards “Entertainer of the Year” recipient has never passed up an opportunity to shine a light on a group that is otherwise often overlooked in all industries and life.
And in honor of the upcoming NAACP Image Awards, where the multi talented star is up for several nominations, including “Outstanding Soul/R&B Song” and “Outstanding Host in a Reality, Game Show, or Variety (Series or Special)“ for Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, we’re looking back at three moments when Lizo reminded the world Black Women deserve to be celebrated.
51st NAACP Image Awards “Entertainer of the Year” Speech
Lizzo accepted the “Entertainer of the Year” honors at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, presented by actress and singer Janelle Monae. During her acceptance speech, the multitalented singer spoke about her mission to spread positivity, which can be heard through her and in songs like “Good As Hell” before giving Black women a shout-out.
"I just want to shout out all of the big Black girls that I bring on stage with me,” she said. “I do that because I want them to know that they are the trophies."
Lizzo gives her idols their flowers
During the 51st Annual NAACP Image Awards, Lizzo gave Academy Award-winning actress Angela Bassett her flowers for representing Black women all over. “You’re incredible; you’re such a beautiful actress. You’ve inspired so many Black women to be strong. So, thank you so much for doing that for me,” she told the Hollywood icon before joking, “I think about you every time I walk away fiercely from a car,” referencing the actress’s character Bernadine Harris in the 1995 romance drama, Waiting to Exhale.
Lizzo on the importance of Body Positivity
While talking to reporters following the 51st annual event, the “2 Be Loved” singer clarified why she advocates for body positivity in such an appearance-driven industry as the music business explaining, ”This isn’t my brand. This is who I am,”
She continued, “And I think that’s why it speaks to so many people in a world where branding is like the first thing we see nowadays, individuals and true individuals kind of stand out like a sore thumb—I feel like a sore thumb, but it’s a beautiful sore thumb, and I’m just honored to be a part of the music industry right now where all these sore thumbs are poking out and being themselves.”
The singer championed Black women once again, adding, “I mean, big black girls are beautiful. We deserve to be heard and seen and put on stages and given Grammys, and that’s what the f—k I’m doing.”
Watch the NAACP Image Awards live on Saturday, February 25, 2023, at 8:00 pm ET/PT on BET.
