Why Zara Larsson is receiving backlash for a ‘gay slur’ she didn’t use

When it comes to celebrities, there are a few categories that they can be placed in. There are the Kanye West types, who thrive on attention — good or bad. There is a much larger subsection, however, of celebrities who simply stay out of the spotlight.

A strong example of this is pop singer Zara Larsson.

Larsson has a handful of hit songs, including Lush Life, Symphony, and Never Forget You. Despite constantly being near the top of the charts, Larsson lives a pretty quiet personal life. Generally speaking, you don’t see her name in very many non-music headlines. Now you might.

Someone photoshopped Zara Larsson saying a ‘gay slur’ and everyone is attacking her for it

Let me make something clear before I get any further into this article — Zara Larsson did not say anything offensive toward the LGBTQ+ community. Here’s where the confusion is happening.

The controversy began with a screenshot of a notification page where it appears that Larsson is calling someone a gay slur. The key word here is “appears” — if you take a closer look at things, it quickly becomes clear that the screenshot was altered.

For starters, you can see that the emoji used in the alleged comment is cut off at the bottom. There has clearly been some editing done in this regard. The alignment of virtually everything is off.

As another example, you can look at the positioning of the light grey text showing the original comment. While the real comments are aligned with the top of the grey bar, the text in this alleged comment is centered.

Larsson is claiming to have received “thousands” of comments claiming that she has been rude to this person and is rightfully frustrated.

She may have been an easy target too, as this isn’t her first spat with the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, Larsson accused James Charles of sliding into her boyfriend’s DMs multiple times before backtracking and correctly stating that it was just once. While this was a simple exaggeration, it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Since then, Charles and Larsson made up and are on “good terms.”

Thankfully, the current situation is completely fabricated. Hopefully, those who believe it will soon realize the truth.