Last week we were shocked to see the evidence Internet sleuths had found backing up the claim Demi Lovato had a secret Instagram account she was using to say horrible things, often about former pal Selena Gomez.
Immediately Twitter whipped up a frenzy of backlash using the hashtag #DemiLovatoIsOverParty. And it was fair for fans who believed it to be angry.
After all, a celebrity who has been vocal about her mental health struggles and experiences being bullied turns out to be yet another anonymous, faceless Internet troll? If it were true, she’d be both a mean girl AND a hypocrite.
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But… was it really her? As soon as the allegations went public the page started getting scrubbed and was renamed from TraumaQueen4Eva to Dolphins4Ever02, which only bolstered suspicions it really was Demi’s hate outlet. But we never thought she’d actually address it!
However, for the first time on Friday, the Cool For The Summer singer actually did comment — on the backlash at least.
Speaking to Jameela Jamil on her Weight It podcast, Demi brushed off the anger, saying:
“I’ve been canceled so many times, I can’t even count… the hashtag #DemiIsOverParty, that whole thing. It just doesn’t even affect me anymore. One, it’s not real. I don’t think anyone was ever officially canceled, otherwise certain people wouldn’t have Grammys, wouldn’t have Oscars, certain people wouldn’t be where they are in their positions.”
We don’t know if that’s true. While some people seem to get away with everything, others definitely have lost jobs and careers due to controversies over things they’ve said.
Again, Demi didn’t accept any responsibility for the CAUSE of all the backlash, but she did ask:
“Where is the forgiveness culture?”
Was she speaking generally about the need for the Internet to allow for growth and change? (Which we generally agree with, btw.) Or slyly letting us know she’d like everyone to give her a pass on this whole TraumaQueen4Eva nonsense?
It’s an interesting convo, regardless, with Demi ultimately deciding there should be a limit to forgiveness — and how many chances people get to change:
“There are some people, if you have used up your second and third chances with a certain topic, you’re canceled and you should stay canceled. But if you mess up and you apologize and come forward and say I’ve learned from this, then let that be an example for other people so they can change, too. Cancel culture will not work unless people have some sort of mercy. You have to be able to do that. I think if it’s somebody who refuses to learn, just has the entitlement of I can never do any wrong and I can get away with this, then yeah… go ahead and cancel them.”
Inneresting.
If she was behind the account, obviously we wish she would have also apologized and said she’d learned from this — effectively being an example for other people so they can change, too.
Instead she may be proving once again the efficacy of the deny-til-you-die strategy.
Do YOU think it was really Demi slamming Selena and saying other awful things? If so, will getting found out make her change??
[Image via Demi Lovato/Selena Gomez/Instagram.]
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