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Demi Lovato is apologizing for her latest controversy surrounding a yogurt shop after she called them out to her 102 million Instagram followers for selling sugar-free cookies. This whole story is less than sweet but marks one of the most intriguing celebrity feuds to date. It all started on Sunday after Lovato who has been extremely open about her struggles with addiction, mental health, and eating disorders visited “The Big Chill” in Century City but “found it extremely hard to order.”
Lovato was so upset that the business sold what she described as “tons of sugar-free cookies/other diet foods” that she tagged the business in her story and wrote, “Finding it extremely hard to order froyo from @thebiggchillofficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar-free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter. Do better please,” adding the hashtag “#dietculturevultures.” Then the whole situation got really sticky for Lovato who started trending on Twitter with thousands shaming the artist for trying to take down a small, women-owned business while also forgetting people have health conditions that require them to eat sugar-free items- like diabetes, for example. And that’s not even the whole story so grab yourself some fro-yo of your choice and buckle up.
After Lovato shared her first post calling out The Big Chill she shared another saying she was going to make the hashtag “#dietculturevultures” “a thing” and was going to start calling out “harmful” companies. “So I think I’m gonna have to make that hashtag a thing. I will be calling harmful messaging from brands or companies that perpetuate a society that not only enables but praises disordered eating.” She later shared a conversation between her and the company after they reached out to her directly writing, “We cater to all of our customers’ needs for the past 36 years. We are sorry you found this offensive.” Lovato responded saying their service was also “terrible” and “rude” and later shared one of their posts from 2016 in an attempt to prove they were ”#dietculturevultures.” Things continued to melt into a puddle from there and according to DM’s of the rest of the conversation leaked to TMZ, Lovato warned the froyo spot, “Don’t keep going w this. You don’t want to mess w me. You’re in the wrong and the customer is always right.”
On Monday afternoon Lovato went live on Instagram then shared the 8-minute video to her grid. Despite Lovato starting the feud herself, she started her apology by saying she has gotten “in the middle” of something, “I have gotten kind of in the middle of something with this yogurt shop called The big Chill” she said. For the rest of the video, Lovato explains how she is “very outspoken“ about the things she believes in but understands that sometimes her messaging can lose its meaning when she gets emotional. “I’m human,” she said. “When I messaged this froyo place like originally I wanted to make a point, and I wanted to call out behaviors or branding things that, didn’t sit right with me.” Lovato continued, “As someone who deals with an eating disorder and is in recovery from an eating disorder, I still to this day have a hard time walking into a froyo shop, ordering yogurt and being content with it, and keeping it down. I know that seems like not a huge deal to a lot of people, but to me it is.”
The 28-year-old admitted that it wasn’t clear to her that the advertised items could be for specific dietary needs. “I didn’t know that,” she said, explaining that if they had put signs like “celiac and vegan,” it would have helped her understand. “Because it wasn’t clear, I definitely jumped to conclusions and probably shouldn’t have, you know, gone about this the way that I have, but I’m willing to talk to this froyo shop to help get the messaging right,“ the “Skyscraper” singer said.
Lovato continued, explaining that froyo is particularly hard for people with anorexia. “I know that people struggle with froyo, with eating disorders. So that’s why I’m super sensitive when I walk into a froyo place and I see diet stuff. I’m going to be protective.” Lovato later said that unlike her addiction to drugs that she can never touch again, she has to eat three times a day, “I left that yogurt store and didn’t get the kind of yogurt that I wanted, and then I had a hard time for the rest of the weekend.” She continued, claiming she never meant to go after a small business, “I’m sorry that I got the messaging wrong. I’m sorry that I may have disappointed some people, but I am not going after a small business as someone with a lot of followers, that‘s not what I’m doing here.” Lovato went on to say her intuition told her to speak up about it and she “feels good about that” but not the way her message has been misconstrued. She again offered to help work with the business to help “realign the message” so she feels safe going inside. “People with eating disorders should be able to go in and feel safe wherever they go to eat. That’s all I’m asking.“
The Bigg Chill hasn’t addressed the controversy but re-shared a photo of the shop Sunday with a huge line out the door along with other posts encouraging people to support the small business.