Lizzo has been a proponent of body acceptance throughout her career. While she has faced criticism over her weight and has faced backlash for some of her antics, most famously, her choice of clothing at a Lakers game in 2019, she has continued to change the narrative and image of plus-sized women.
In a recent interview with Variety, Lizzo spoke on representation in Hollywood and her reaction to seeing Eddie Murphy wear fat suits in many of his movies.
Lizzo was asked what examples of stereotypes she saw of plus-sized people in film and television growing up that she thought were “harmful” and portrayed plus-sized people in a negative light. Lizzo then references Eddie Murphy’s portrayal of Sherman Klump in The Nutty Professor.
“It’s funny because I’m the biggest Eddie Murphy fan of all time,” Lizzo said. “But he definitely had a collection of fat-suit movies that people would be laughing at, but I would feel sad.”
“Not because I felt like, ‘Oh, my gosh — that’s me.’ But I had this empathy for Professor Klump [in The Nutty Professor],” she added. “Like, the scene where he opens his drawer, and there are all these candies and M&Ms in his desk? I could literally cry right now thinking about it. People around me were laughing, but I hide food, too. I feel him. I feel sympathy and empathy for him.”
