Lizzo's 'Truth Hurts' faces plagiarism allegations over DNA test line
Lizzo performs onstage during the 2019 BET awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California on June 23, 2019. (Photo by Jean-Baptiste LACROIX / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP/Getty Images)
The truth about “Truth Hurts” could hurt Lizzo’s wallet.
Los Angeles record producer Justin Raisen is claiming that he and his brother were uncredited for contributions they made to the singer’s breakout hit song, which has spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Raisen posted a video on Instagram this week showing what he said was a 2017 clip of Lizzo singing part of a song called “Healthy” that he and others wrote and which provided melody, lyrics and chords later used in “Truth Hurts.”
The song is certified two-times Platinum, according to Billboard.
The line in question is, “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that b----,” which was already the center of a plagiarism claim from another singer, Mina Lioness, who tweeted an almost identical line in 2017.
Lizzo has since filed for trademarks on the phrase “100% that b----” for music, videos, T-shirts and other clothing. A shirt for sale on her website features that phrase on the back.
Raisen said he’d reached out to Lizzo’s team asking for credit, but that he was “shut down every time.”
“Coming forward publicly to family, friends, artists and colleagues seems to be the only way at this point in relieving some of our emotional distress caused by this,” he wrote in the caption. “The last thing we want to do is throw any negativity toward Lizzo’s momentum and movement as a cultural figure.”
Raisen said Lioness’ tweet did inspire the line in “Healthy” as a meme of the phrase came up during their writing session. He wrote that he and his brother would “share some of the proceeds with Mina” if they succeed in getting a share of the “Truth Hurts” money.
Cynthia Arato, a lawyer for Lizzo, told The Associated Press that the Raisens “are not the writers” of the song.
“They did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create this song, and they did not help write any of the material that they now seek to profit from, which is why they expressly renounced any claim to the work, in writing, months ago,” Arato told the AP.