Lorde took a temporary hiatus from being pop music’s favourite wordsmith over the weekend when, in an interview with the Guardian, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter likened her friendship with Taylor Swift to having a friend with an autoimmune disease.
“It’s like having a friend with very specific allergies. There are certain places you can’t go together. Certain things you can’t do,” Lorde said, referring to Swift’s fame. “There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship. It’s like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.”
Lorde’s comments rankled a sizable chunk of her Twitter followers, who criticised her callousness and even pointed out that the statement reflected a certain level of ableism.
One particularly aggrieved fan condemned Lorde’s “ignorant analogy,” especially in light of fellow singer Selena Gomez’s public battle with lupus — which means that she is, in fact, a friend of Lorde’s with an autoimmune disease.
In addition to asking, “I wonder how [Selena Gomez] feels about this,” the tweet underscored the crudeness of Lorde’s faux pas with a screenshot of Buzzfeed’s coverage, which ranks lupus at a glaring No 2 on a list of autoimmune diseases.
Responding to the Twitter user, Lorde admitted that she regretted her “insensitive” word choice, although she maintained that the comment was not directly aimed at Taylor Swift. Rather, her remarks were meant to cite the difficulties of sustaining a friendship with anyone of superstar fame.
