AceShowbiz - Tom Brady landed in hot water following his appearance on FOX Sports on Sunday, October 27. The retired NFL athlete was slammed for calling Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen a slur during the live broadcast.

During the Bills' game against the Seattle Seahawks, Tom said that Josh sometimes plays "like a spaz," adding, "like a grade-schooler on a sugar high." He continued, "But now he's controlled the chaos. He's like a storm coming into town and you don't want that storm coming into this town."

Deriving from the word spastic, the derogatory term is used to discriminate against people with disabilities. It means clumsy, stupid, or losing physical or emotional control.

Unsurprisingly, many came at Tom over the offensive remark. "Highly offensive to people who have physical disabilities as well as their loved ones," one of X users wrote. Another commented, "I thought I heard that! Someone's gotta tell him he can't say that on tv."

Some others, meanwhile, defended the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. One user claimed on the platform that the backlash was the "perfect example of political correctness jumping the shark." Similarly, one other said, "This generation is a bunch of weenies."

Tom wasn't the only star who was under fire for using the slur. Back in 2022, Lizzo faced backlash for putting "spaz" in the lyrics of her song, "Grrrls". The four-time Grammy-winner removed the word as she issued an apology.

"It has been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song 'Grrrls'. Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language," she wrote at the time. "As a fat black woman in America, I have had many hurtful words used against me so I understand the power words can have (whether intentionally, or in my case, unintentionally)."

She added, "This is the result of me listening and taking action. As an influential artist I'm dedicated to being part of the change I've been waiting to see in the world."

Also in the same year, Beyonce Knowles also faced similar backlash. The song "Heated" used a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, in the lines, "Spazzing on that a**, spaz on that a**." A representative for the musician revealed that the lyric will be changed.