Lorde Instagrammed a photo of her bathtub with a Whitney Houston lyric, oh noooo

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People are still talking about whether Lorde and Jack Antonoff are happening, but I get the feeling that the “are they bangin’ or nah?” story is mostly just hipster nonsense at this point. Clearly, I believe they have banged in the past and probably still are bangin’, but that’s not the official story and so… whatever. I’m tired of debating it. So let’s debate this instead: did Lorde knowingly Instagram a super-offensive photo and comment about Whitney Houston?? Here’s the now-deleted Instagram:

First off, I have tub envy. Why does everyone else have great bathtubs and I don’t? Second of all, the photo would have been amazing without comment. No one would have said sh-t about it other than “wow you have an amazing bathtub.” Third of all, attaching the photo of a bathtub to lyrics closely associated with Whitney Houston is… just an odd thing to do, in general. Fourth, given than Whitney died in the bathtub, it’s just wrong.

Now all that being said, I sort of feel for Lorde because that’s the kind of mistake I would make too, like forgetting to go that one extra step of making the connection for why something is inappropriate or mean. In any case, Lorde deleted it and made an apology on her Instagram Story, writing that: “Extremely extremely poorly chosen quote. I’m so sorry for offending anyone — I hadn’t even put this together I was just excited to take a bath. I’m an idiot. Love Whitney forever and ever. Sorry again.”

Forgiven or nah? I really don’t believe she was trying to be shady.

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97 Responses to “Lorde Instagrammed a photo of her bathtub with a Whitney Houston lyric, oh noooo”

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  1. Yellowrocket says:

    It took me a few seconds to try and think why this was bad. Then I realised and I went ooohhhh nnnoooo.

    Poor Lorde I bet she did the exact same thing. I don’t think there was shade there either.

    • jetlagged says:

      That was my reaction too. Not outrage, but some cringe. Followed by sympathy panic, quietly chanting to myself – delete, delete, delete.

      • Shappalled says:

        I felt nothing. But it’s 3am here and I’ve just got home from a thirteen hour drinking session with my workmates. Goodnight.

    • kimbers says:

      uh no. Lorde isn’t a nice person in real life. She is a total diva. Her lack of sensitivity is not a surprise. I can see her doing this for the clicks that we give her.

      • magnoliarose says:

        I never heard much about her except the usual stuff and that she is messy. Interesting. Hmmm.

  2. Rose says:

    Oh please, it was funny mistake! People are too damn sensitive.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Not for Houston’s family it wasn’t. But Lorde apologized and, one hopes, will think a few seconds before doing something similar.

      It’s okay be to be “too damn sensitive” about a person’s death. In fact, it’s kind of a moral obligation.

    • Annaloo. says:

      I love this comment. There is no such thing as “too sensitive” here at celebitchy. I’ve been reading this site over 10 years now, and trust, HERE is where being sensitive is what forms the way the conversation goes.

      • KathNitenDay says:

        I feel that way too sometimes. I’m like “oh great, 6 cpmments in and the fun discussion of this celebrity whatever has turned into some moral lecture”

        I can almost feel the posters excitement when they find an opportunity to ( usually a reach) admonish or lecture an another poster.

      • stinky says:

        it wasn’t always like this.
        it used to be fun.

      • Domino says:

        I think the sensitivity around celebrity and In the comments and articles of CB changed with the preceding election…

        Right around when trump became the R candidate, and we began to realize twitter and fb and celebrity culture have shaped the US a lot.

        I still think cb is fun though. Cat threads, button limericks, impeachment gossip. I actually enjoy the site a lot more now than when I first found it in 2008. To each their own!

      • Jordan says:

        It all changed once the fire nation attacked.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        An Avatar the Last Airbender reference will never not make me happy

      • Ms says:

        I’d rather be here where everyone is too sensitive than on the internet at large where people are ruthless, misanthropic a-holes. This is the ONLY website on the entire internet where I can stomach reading the comments.

      • magnoliarose says:

        Life has been so tense since the election, and it is harder to be light-hearted. I am guilty of it. It can be overdone sometimes, but I don’t know how other sites are really. We are living in such mean-spirited times, and I know sometimes I just want to interact with nice people.

        Ooh, Avatar. Yeah, we are living through the Fire Nation rule.

      • otaku fairy says:

        @Ms: Agreed. It’s always nice to find entertainment/news/ celebrity gossip and fashion websites where there aren’t way too many Trump-loving neo-nazis, aggressive homophobes, violent misogynists, etc. in the comment section. Sometimes it seems like you can’t even discuss a story or news event on a site like MSN, Yahoo, or Facebook without every pig with a bible in one hoof and a confederate flag in the other coming out to be disgusting.

    • whatWHAT? says:

      mistake? yes. funny? not so much.

      • Rose says:

        Yup it was funny,I laughed anyway.
        She’s didn’t mean anything by it was just silly mistake and she didn’t need apologize.

      • whatWHAT? says:

        I know she didn’t mean anything by it. that’s why I agreed, it was a mistake. it wasn’t like she TRIED to be funny and it didn’t go over well.

        but I’m sorry to hear that you think unintentional mocking of deaths is funny and that you laugh at jokes made at the expense of other people’s deaths.

        I’m sure the Houston family wouldn’t agree with you, but OK.

    • windyriver says:

      Might have been a cute post if it wasn’t for the background situation.

      Mistake, yes; can easily see how it would have happened. Funny, not even a little. Offensive? Wouldn’t go that far.

      Agree people can sometimes be too sensitive but don’t agree that’s true here. But she caught it and apologized; must have been mortified to realize it.

      Over and done.

      Do agree it’s a great bathtub.

    • Embee says:

      It’s funny if you believe it was unintentional; if the joke was designed to be provocative at the family’s expense, then it’s cruel.

      Like, when my sister’s bikini top was unclasped by her strappy chair (causing it to fly across the table and hit me in the face)it was hilarious. If she had removed the top and thrown it at me: crude and offensive.

      • windyriver says:

        Somebody’s death isn’t a joke, unintentional or not. Has nothing even to do with the family, it was just bad, even though accidental.

        She recognized the mistake and apologized, which was appropriate. Doubt that anyone believes it was on purpose.

        Your sister’s bikini top incident doesn’t even come close.

    • Naddie says:

      Funny? FUNNY?

    • Tanesha86 says:

      @Rose it’s pretty morbid to find any humor in such a tragic death, maybe you’re just too insensitive

    • kimbers says:

      it’s not funny unless you’re a sociopath. it may be a shoulder shrug, but it’s not funny.

  3. Nicole says:

    I seriously sat on that photo yesterday for a while trying to get the outrage before it clicked. Honest mistake poor girl was just excited to relax.
    Also I saw her in concert in Brooklyn and she was amazing. And she brought out her not boyfriend Jack Antanoff and whew boy they have some musical chemistry.

    • Coleslav says:

      OMG, was at the Brooklyn show too and dont even know any of her music. The acoustic cover with Jack was CRAZY though, so much weird energy.

  4. Kaiser says:

    If we’re being completely honest though, the lyric was written by Dolly Parton.

    • FLORC says:

      Right. To her old business partner. Just that no one ever associates that song with dolly. Whitney made it huge. And the bathtub… I’m trying to figure why she did it. Maybe subconsciously had the association. Maybe she really loves baths and is having a marble shower installed?
      Over the years I think Lorde might be low key trolling us. Send out something. Wait for reactions. Retract or roll with it.

    • Amy Tennant says:

      Yeah, but identified strongly with Whitney by most people. If I hadn’t been for the headline, I would have thought of Dolly myself– I always liked what Dolly said: it didn’t bother her if people thought if it was Whitney’s song as long as Dolly got the money!

      I still cringe when I think about how I gave a little boy a toy firetruck to help cheer him up because he’d lost all his toys when his house burned down.

      I believe Lorde just meant she always loves her bath. It was an oopsie. She’s sorry. Carry on.

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        Yes, an oopsie. She’s still young!

      • jetlagged says:

        @Who – my dad uses the phrase “young and dumb” a lot. I don’t normally like it, but in this case it sort of fits. Lorde must have been in her early teens when Whitney died, so the event is probably a little outside her frame of reference.

        It’s not entirely the same, but I still remember all the tweets from Kanye fans being super-impressed when he generously collaborated on a song with an unknown. They were sure Paul McCartney had just gotten his big break.

      • whatWHAT? says:

        lol, jetlagged, I remember that with Kanye and Macca.

        reminds me of the kid who once said “Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?”

      • jetlagged says:

        lol. Kids these days. Poor Paul. I mean, poor Stella’s dad.

    • mia girl says:

      True. And I may get slammed for this, but I’ve always kinda liked Dolly’s version better.

      My favorite Whitney (and I would argue her best) song/performance is
      “I Have Nothing”

      • paranormalgirl says:

        Best version is John Doe. It’s playing on the jukebox in “The Bodyguard.”

    • Tw says:

      I thought the same.

    • magnoliarose says:

      I thought the same Kaiser.

  5. Tiffany says:

    I ain’t dying on this hill today.

    Mistake. Corrected. Done.

  6. Case says:

    Aww, I like Lorde. Honest mistake, but I feel secondhand embarrassment for her.

  7. Lucy says:

    I was scratching my head over why she was even apologizing for this until I read this article. Totally honest mistake.

  8. greenmonster says:

    I share the tub envy – mostly because I don’t have a bathtub at all. Just a shower. Can’t count how often I wish I could take a nice long bath and Netflix. That’s all I have here.

  9. Kitten says:

    This was a completely honest mistake. I like that she seemed genuinely horrified once she realized it and issued a REAL, sincere apology, not “sorry if I offended” or “everyone calm down–it was a mistake!”

  10. Nancy says:

    Wow. A bathtub, Whitney Houston. OMG, I’d be mortified by my stupidity.

  11. Astro chick says:

    I follow gossip stories religiously (it’s my guilty pleasure) and I had no idea Whitney died in a tub…

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Yah, I’m old and out of it and yet I knew it. I wonder if Lorde did – on the one hand, she’s young; on the other hand, she’s in music.

    • Jordan says:

      Me either. I remember her daughter though.

  12. BaBaDook says:

    This is just a stupid mistake. Anyone feeling outrage is just looking for it.

    • Nancy says:

      Maybe if you were from the Houston family, you might be one of those feeling outrage. Whitney died in a bathtub and Bobbi Christina was found unconscious in a bathtub. I know Lorde isn’t the sharpest pencil in the box, but give me a break. What was she thinking????

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        She’s 20. She wasn’t thinking.

      • MoCO says:

        Maybe she was thinking that she doesn’t follow celebrity news religiously and had no idea where Whitney Houston or her daughter died?? Is this a required piece of history everyone should know? Lorde isn’t even American. Not knowing doesn’t mean she’s dumb.

      • Nancy says:

        Youth can’t be an acceptable excuse for everything. This is the business she is in. I am shocked by the lack of empathy for Whitney and Bobbi. Twitter won’t let her forget this for awhile, which is a good thing. Ig and twenty year olds don’t mix well as history has proven. Sure she learned a lesson the hard way…..think before you speak.

      • MoCO says:

        You seriously think she took a picture of her tub, thought of Whitney’s death, and thought it would be super funny to use her lyric? She clearly didn’t know the connection and sincerely apologized for it. It’s not a shocking lack of empathy. She was just saying she loved her bathtub.

      • Nancy says:

        MoCO: You gave me a laugh for the day. The woman is in the music industry, besties with Taylor Swift but doesn’t follow celebrity news religiously!!! She knew about Whitney’s death and her daughter’s death. It had to be one seriously huge coincidence to post both her lyrics and a bathtub. Mind boggling, but just one of those things I guess. Can’t imagine anyone could be so disturbed to do it purposefully, especially online. Bet she won’t be posting for awhile!!

      • Honey says:

        @Nancy it is so weird that you absolutely assume the worse in people. What kind of life you must live to believe that this young woman looked at her tub and thought a suicide joke would be funny. She probably looked at her tub and though “I love long baths, I will always love a relaxing bath. Oh, that gives me an idea.” Are people mean to you on a regular basis? Why else would your mind assume the worse with such drive. Take a breath and relax.

      • flan says:

        @Nancy, you’re just looking for an excuse to be outraged.

        I didn’t know Whitney died in a bathtub either and read celebrity news fairly regularly.

      • sundays says:

        well you’re quite the negative nancy, aren’t you?

        (same age as Lorde & I knew Whitney died of drugs? maybe alcohol? not sure, but that’s all I knew. oh and I sometimes sing that song when I see something I, uhm, love. yesterday it was a bowl of strawberries.)

      • littlebird says:

        this isn’t THAT big of a deal? not immediately making the connection, i giggled when i saw it, and after realizing had that same “oh holy shit no that’s bad. that’s really bad. that’s not funny.” moment. she obviously did, is clearly embarrassed, made a sincere apology and deleted it. you can’t expect more from her.

        (i’m only a couple years older than lorde, and despite being an encyclopedia of celebrity knowledge at this point, i truly forgot that whitney was found in a bathtub. most of us remember her death and some of the details, but a lot of us would be hard-pressed to tell you more than “i think it was drug/alcohol related”. whitney was before our time.)

  13. winosaursusrex says:

    Dude if that were my tub I’d be singing that song to it too.

    As it is I just bought a house and it has a soaking tub-you better damn believe the first night in it my bottle of wine and I will be settling in and never moving….

    • AnnaKist says:

      Ooooh, lucky you, wino! We’ve never had a tub in the downstairs bathroom. I renovated it a few years ago, and it’s lovely, but, still no tub. With my rheumatoid arthritis, I cannot get up the stairs anymore, so my daughter and her partner took over the master suite, with a beautiful tub! But, seeing as he’s a plumber, he can bloody well install a lovely tub downstairs, since that has virtually become my bathroom. And a bidet. I want one of those, too. I’m going shopping this weekend. Sadly though, no alcohol allowed with my meds. Booooo! Mocktails, then… 🍹 🍸

    • BorderMollie says:

      Jealous! A soaking tub with waterproof screen above it is house goals for me. Baths are my big relaxation thing.

    • magnoliarose says:

      I have one too, and I would shank someone who tried to take it away from me. It is my precious.

  14. HK9 says:

    Lorde is young enough that Whitney (while she was probably one of the best pop singers of her generation) isn’t a big deal to her and wouldn’t remember why/how she died. I just figured is was a brain fart.

    • otaku fairy says:

      She was probably about 15 or so when Whitney Houston died; the details about her death might not have been something she was paying close attention to at the time. I agree it was more likely a brain fart than anything else. Lorde isn’t a celebrity who has a reputation for seeking attention in malicious ways, so I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

  15. Anniefannie says:

    This reminds me of one of my favorite West Wing quotes:
    (in reference to a dust up the First Lady created by saying something about being a Dr and mother and the mommy brigade for her…)
    Josh: ” I don’t get it?”
    CJ : ” Ya gotta want it ”
    I’m fairly plugged in and took sometime for the penny to drop why this was offensive coupled with I appreciate the wording of her apology. Leave Lorde lone….

  16. Tassie says:

    So. Too soon?

  17. Margo S. says:

    Aww. She didn’t mean to. But maybe she should have someone filter her tweets for her in the future.

  18. kiddo says:

    please write about the concert footage of her and jack antonoff looking uncomfortably intimate

  19. Jay says:

    A mistake and in extremely bad taste (remember, things can be offensive and in bad taste even if they’re unintentional, as lack of intent does NOT negate impact), and forgiven (at least, by me!) because she was like hooooo sh-t didn’t put two and two together sorry for being dumb. LIke, that’s basically her apology. I foudn it sincere and it’s exactly the sort of thing my dumb ass would do before people quicker on the uptake than me would be like UM MORON DID YOU NOT THINK THIS THROUGH.

    • Nancy says:

      Ha! I should have said it like you did, instead of being so incredulous at the perceived lack of remorse. Well Said!!!! Lol

  20. Veronica S. says:

    I’d actually forgotten the circumstances of her death, myself, and then I cringed when I looked it up. An apology was in order, but that was clearly an unintentional faux pas.

  21. Lovey says:

    It’s a Dolly Parton quote!

    • Nancy says:

      Didn’t you ever see the Bodyguard? Geez. Yes, Dolly wrote it and said it belongs to Whitney. She sang the hell out of it. Gorgeous. This Lorde girl only wishes she an iota of the talent and hits that Whitney had. Yeah she screwed up, apologized and will still be her one hit wonder self. Done posting on this finally.

      • flan says:

        Lorde has been around for a few years now, so she’s not a one hit wonder.
        Don’t know why you’re so determined to hate her.

      • @ Nancy — No, I’ve never seen the Bodyguard. I have always related that song to Dolly Parton.
        Yes, Whitney sang the hell out of it, yes many people identify that song in particular with her. (you should check out Dolly’s story about why she wouldn’t let Elvis have it)…I just can’t seem to muster the outrage.

  22. Zeddy says:

    I laughed. One of those too soon cringe jokes. Considering how often I see her in gifs, memes, and hear her songs, I forgot she was dead. Live on cool lady.

  23. Alexis says:

    Oh I love that bathtub. I don’t think she meant to offend anyone with that post.

  24. Babs says:

    Despicable.

  25. Claire Jalfon says:

    Unoffended.

  26. Maum says:

    How was it a mistake?
    Was she actually professing love to her bathtub?

    Call me cynical but I assumed it was black humour. Coming from a celebrity on a a public Instagram page it was bound to go down like a ton of bricks.

    • flan says:

      People very often use lyrics, quotes by famous people or exagarated declarations of love to talk about their cats/ice cream/a book on social media.

      Friends are ‘this beautiful babe’ or ‘the reason I live’ but the same can hold for a pet or some random food you just ate whilst watching reruns of Seinfield.

      Nobody there would think she would be seriously professing love to a bathtub, but most people her age would instantly recognize it as a joking way to say you like something.

  27. magnoliarose says:

    Not outraged. She made a mistake. It would take an evil person to make a joke like that, and she isn’t. She is young and possibly tired and had a thoughtless moment.
    She apologized, and it is over.

  28. Pamsicle says:

    I follow Jack Antonoff and his sister on instagram. And last week Lorde was hanging out with the two of them. #banging

  29. Shannon says:

    Total pass for her. Her apology was sincere, and if we’re honest we’ve all had those ‘foot in mouth’ moments. I had a dear friend and co-worker who died suddenly of a drug-related heart attack years ago. At her funeral, I was talking to a couple of other friends and said something like, “I was just chatting with her the day before; when I heard, I swear I was so shocked. I couldn’t breathe at first, I felt like I was having a heart attack.” And then I was like, “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT, WHAT IS EVEN WRONG WITH ME?” and started crying again. Luckily, it was just a couple other friends who totally understood. We’ve all done it. She probably just meant she loves the bathtub (which IS awesome) and/or she loves baths.

  30. Hunnybe says:

    Wow. This is disgusting. This wasn’t an accident. This hard faced tripe even typed the lyrics to a song identified by many by Whitney. I guess a black woman’s death is fodder to protect a “young” white woman. No different than watching people hang off a tree while the community found entertainment in it. Black people ARE people, we ARE human.

    So much for the false solidarity that so many of you had on here about “trying to understand” and ” trying to get it right”. Nothing but lip service.

    • magnoliarose says:

      @Hunnybee

      I didn’t see the racial aspect of it, but I think your statement about protecting white girls is more than spot on. I didn’t see the original post and only read about it here, so I am open to being wrong.
      It does get tiresome the stretches and twists that are made to excuse mediocre white entertainers and celebrities. Sometimes I just leave threads because I know I am getting too annoyed and might say something I may regret. Truthfully, I never noticed it as much until the election, but the double standard is real and undeniable.
      Whitney’s death is still such a tragedy, and that little Bobby died the same way makes this even worse.

    • Shannon says:

      I see your point about protecting white girls, especially the pretty ones. Society will bend over backwards with excuses in ways that it will not for people of color. I’m not even a huge Lorde fan (I liked ‘Royals’ but haven’t followed her since). But my personal opinion is that its’ more an indictment on society itself rather than Lorde as an individual – I can’t know that for sure, obviously. I just know I myself (as I posted above) said something stupid at a friend’s funeral and it was unintentional. She’s benefiting from institutional racism for sure, I’m just not sure it’s fair to place that directly in her lap. But yes, I absolutely agree with the point. I was a journalist and one of my co-workers was a beautiful, regal black woman who had won awards in journalism. I was a white woman, also a journalist but not nearly as experienced or, frankly, not nearly as good at it as she was. People would tell me in person, “I’d rather talk to you if it’s okay.” I was like, “It’s her story, she’d doing it, I’m out.” But it gave me a look at a racism I’d not previously seen. But even in those situations, that racism I didn’t feel should be laid in my lap. She remains a dear friend to this day (she and her sisters held my baby shower, bless them). If the colors were reversed (Lorde was a POC and Whitney was white) it would have been just as much a screwup, but Lorde would have gotten a lot more heat and a lot fewer passes I hate to say.

  31. K says:

    Really distasteful, but I believe that she did it completely by mistake. It’s possible she never heard about the details of Whitney’s death and posted quickly the first lyrics that came into her head. However, among the 77k people who liked the image, there certainly should have been thousands who knew better, yet “liked” the reference anyway. They are gross and this was a very Lena Dunham thing for Lorde to do, purposely or not.

  32. Amaria says:

    The fugly bathroom is as bad as the quote. That icy pseudo-elegance looks straight from a mausoleum.

  33. Babs says:

    Are we now pretending the specifics of Whitney’s death aren’t widely known? Especially with the tragic death of her daughter under similar circumtances? Especially by someone who belongs to the same industry? P.L.E.A.S.E.

  34. Nicegirl says:

    Against the grain again on this one. I know this site loves “young girl Lorde.”

    Welp, I’m a Whitney fan from jump.

    And I don’t buy that this was a mistake. A move to generate attention seems more likely.

    If I’m supposed to believe the narrative around this artist- 1. that she is super young – and 2., that she is so young that it is amazing that she apparently has such a high level of adult comprehension, why would I not expect her to know Grammy winners/music history? It’s her industry.

    She’s so young and adorkable it doesn’t matter, wait, it was a mistake, or we just don’t care? I care about Whitney still. How she lived and how she passed. I don’t give a rip whose lyrics they were originally, or if the “youngster” apologized if people “were offended.” Sorry, not sorry. We are talking about Whitney Houston here.

    So jump on it.

  35. Lilith says:

    I do hope it was a genuine mistake and not a highly inappropriate attempt at black humor.. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

    And I agree that since the election of Emperor Orange, it is much harder to take any form of insensitivity lightly.

  36. hey-ya says:

    …nasty unnecessary comment…btw this one hit wonder could pass for about 53yo…stat..