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Annie Lennox Disses Beyonce as “Feminism Lite,” Has Issues With “Cheap” Performances

Annie Lennox and Beyonce
Annie Lennox dissed Beyonce's version of feminism as "lite" and "tokenistic" in a new interview.

Sweet dreams are not exactly made of this. Annie Lennox branded Beyonce's version of feminism as "tokenistic" in a new interview with LGBT website PrideSource.

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The legendary Eurythmics singer, 59, made her bold statement following Beyonce's epic 16-minute performance at the 2014 MTV VMAs back in August. "I would call that 'feminist lite,'" Lennox said. "L-I-T-E. I'm sorry. It's tokenistic to me." Beyonce's beloved song "#Flawless" from her titular album includes a sampling from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who delivered a powerful TED Talk on the topic of feminism. Adichie ended her speech with her definition of Feminist: "A person who believes in the social, political, economic equality of the sexes."

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Lennox elaborated of Beyonce: "I mean, I think she’s a phenomenal artist — I just love her performances — but I’d like to sit down (with her). I think I’d like to sit down with quite a few artists and talk to them. I’d like to listen to them; I’d like to hear what they truly think."

The "Why" singer also called out other famous female artists for their sexy onstage antics. "I see a lot of it as them taking the word hostage and using it to promote themselves, but I don’t think they necessarily represent wholeheartedly the depths of feminism — no, I don’t," she reasoned. "I think for many it’s very convenient and it looks great and it looks radical, but I have some issues with it… I think it’s a cheap shot."

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She explained: "I think what they do with it is cheap and … yeah. What can I tell you? Sex always sells. And there’s nothing wrong with sex selling, but it depends on your audience. If they’re 7-year-old kids, I have issues with it."

Jay Z's wife, however, explained her viewpoint on gender equality in an essay called "A Woman's Nation Pushes Back From the Brink." Beyonce, 33, penned the piece for The Shriver Report (Maria Shriver's nonprofit) this past January, urging readers to "stop buying into the myth of gender equality."

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Citing statistics, Beyonce added in her piece that equality will only come when both genders acknowledge that the skewed income in America's workforce is "unacceptable."

"Humanity requires both men and women, and we are equally important and need one another," she added. "We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible."

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