American actor and singer Demi Lovato took to Instagram on Monday and shared a post by The Big Chill, a frozen yoghurt shop in Los Angeles criticising the store for perpetuating “Diet Culture,” for which she was later called out by her fans. 

In her story, Lovato took a jab at a message written in the shop. It said, “22 GRAM OF PROTEIN. EAT ME GUILT FREE,” advertising cakes and cookies. Demi captioned her story, “THIS SCREAMS DIET CULTURE AND I WON’T BE GASLIT.”

“I DON’T NEED TO FEEL GUILTY FREE ABOUT ANYTHING,” she wrote further on her story. 

She later shared screenshots of the response from the froyo store in her Instagram DM that said, “We are not diet vultures. We cater to all of our customers [sic] needs for the past 36 years. We are sorry you found this offensive.” Demi wrote back, “The whole experience was triggering and awful.”

Following these back to back updates, some of Demi’s followers on Instagram heeded that gluten-free and sugar-free food items can be generally inclusive for those individuals who suffer from different dietary restrictions, reported E. 

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Other social media users criticised Lovato for lashing out at a local business. 

The “Dancing with the Devil” star later shared an IGTV video talking about the entire incident. She talked about her own ongoing struggles with eating disorders saying she didn’t understand that “health food” and “diet” were targeted for customers with “specific health needs.”

She started by saying, “My intentions were not to come in and bully a small business. That was not it. I walked in, was so triggered that I left without froyo and it made me really sad and that’s just, that’s all it was. And I wanted to talk about that.”

“I am very outspoken about the things that I believe in. I understand that sometimes my messaging can lose its meaning when I get emotional,” she said on the Live. “When I messaged this froyo place, like, originally, I wanted to make a point, and I wanted to call out behaviours or branding things that didn’t sit right with me.”

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Talking about her struggles she said, “As someone that deals with an eating disorder, like, is in recovery from an eating disorder, I still to this day have a hard time walking into a froyo shop, ordering yoghurt 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.”

Elaborating on her belief in making the society more inclusive for all, she said, “If we can make this environment safer for everyone, including people that are in recovery from an eating disorder… while also giving froyo to vegans and people with diabetes, let’s go. Let’s f*king go. Let’s do it. It just has to be clear.”