Why Lorde apologized to outraged Whitney Houston fans over 'extremely poorly chosen' bathtub pic
Who knew that taking a bath could get someone into so much hot water?
This is Lorde’s current plight. The New Zealander singer, 21, has been on tour (fittingly, the “Melodrama World Tour”) and took a random photo of a random moment of her day and now — bam! — it’s a controversy. Of course, there are a few other parts of the story: Her random photo was of a bathtub and the caption was “And iiii will always love you.”
Whitney Houston fans felt like the post was an attack against their queen, who slayed that song, a Dolly Parton original, in The Bodyguard, but went on to the most tragic of deaths after drowning accidentally, in a drug haze, in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton in 2012. (In the world’s worst coincidence, her only daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, died in a tub three years later.) Fans expressed their anger at Lorde on social media over the diss, some of them using the #LordeIsOverParty, which seems extreme for a mistake that also seems inadvertent.
This is disgusting idk how people find it funny. Whitney was a legend. she was amazing. she was a queen. she was a strong black woman. I like lorde but this is truly disgusting pic.twitter.com/B5cR3tolaU
— black female (@privsari) April 6, 2018
lorde canceled
don't come for Mariah or Whitney— ugh. (@champagnegina) April 6, 2018
So Lorde, the human sloth, decided to speak ill of the dead, but not just the dead, a dead legend, Whitney Houston? pic.twitter.com/QXrmQ11tCB
— E. (@LIBGyal) April 6, 2018
Of all the songs by all the singers in the world, Lorde had to caption a picture of her bathtub with Whitney Houston lyrics. pic.twitter.com/u0uN3jgQms
— shane telford. (@MrShaneReaction) April 6, 2018
Lorde tried it. You don't disrespect Whitney. pic.twitter.com/9kwFrNHTou
— ? (@blvcksxlk) April 6, 2018
twitter to lorde after coming for whitney houston pic.twitter.com/QudA2vVnFs
— 1942bs (@REGGllE) April 6, 2018
lorde knows damn well what she was doing posting a picture of a bathtub and captioning it with whitney lyrics
— ? (@ButeraDemetria) April 6, 2018
Lorde had to have known that by drawing a bath full of water, taking a picture it, and then using one of Whitney's songs as a caption that people would get and suspect that she was being shady. It's quite obvious. Maybe she didn't mean it but still.
— (@MJFinesseLover) April 6, 2018
Nevertheless, Lorde found herself deleting the photo and apologizing to Whitney’s still-strong army after #LordeIsOverParty started to trend. She actually apologized more than once and called herself an “idiot.” But she also made clear the point of her post in the first place wasn’t to rile up Nippy’s fans. The girl was just excited about taking a bath.
And if this photo is any indication, she’s been working it onstage. It’s not every day that a singer’s shoes fly off during a show.
A post shared by Lorde (@lordemusic) on Apr 5, 2018 at 4:44pm PDT
Luckily, Lorde — who has since posted photos with the comments off because they’ve been so awful — has her own group of supporters who have her back. They took back the #LordeIsOverParty tag by posting positive Lorde comments.
We still stan #LordeIsOverParty pic.twitter.com/j7WyJW2cOt
— xecho.o (@IamXecho) April 6, 2018
To all the people saying Lorde is cancelled bc of insta pic of the bath and the Whitney lyrics caption… people do stuff like that ALL THE TIME it was obvs just a very bad coincidence and i genuinely don’t think Lorde would do that purposefully…
— Elliott (@ouhoooh) April 6, 2018
Lorde didn’t think her post through but I assure you the angel didn’t mean to offend Whitney, y’all better leave an unproblematic queen alone. pic.twitter.com/KYTolajWRB
— francisco (@mystifiedcisco) April 6, 2018
Y’all are so damn extra, Lorde clearly didn’t mean her post as Whitney shade. I hate stans.
— NIK (@NikitaRayy) April 6, 2018
Lorde is such a pure soul, It was clearly just not thinking. I mean I didn't know Whitney died in a bathtub, so it could have just slipped her mind. Plus why can her fans make jokes but Lorde is being crucified?
— Chey (@cheyenneb182) April 6, 2018
Despite the fan support, Lorde seemed shook by the drama, later posting that her whole day had gone to hell in a handbasket over her bath.
But let’s be real here. Lorde is used to dramz. Earlier this year there was a squabble over her not being asked to perform at the Grammys. And maybe it’s much ado about nothing, but she’s been linked, on and off, to Jack Antonoff, ex of her friend Lena Dunham. (He performed with her on a tour stop recently.) And basically everything she says about pal Taylor Swift is critiqued. So she can handle the bathtub.
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