Lizzo has been accused of sexual harassment, creation of a hostile work environment, false imprisonment and interference with prospective economic advantage by three of her former tour dancers.
Plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams — who began performing with Lizzo after joining her dance competition show Watch Out for the Big Grrrls — and Noelle Rodriguez named Lizzo (real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson), her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. and Lizzo’s dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, in the suit and alleged that Lizzo fostered a hostile work environment between 2021 and 2023.
The lawsuit specified an incident that took place in an Amsterdam club earlier this year wherein Lizzo supposedly “began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas. ” Davis was allegedly pressured by Lizzo to touch one of the performers and was provoked by the artist when she said no, but Davis eventually succumbed and was laughed at by the group. “Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed,” the suit read. Lizzo also supposedly pressured one of her security staff to go on stage and yelled “Take it off!”
In a separate incident, Lizzo reportedly made her dancers go through an “excruciating” 12-hour re-audition after she accused them of drinking prior to their performances, leading Davis to soil her bottoms as she was afraid she would lose her job if she asked to use the bathroom. The day after, Williams and Lizzo had a “tense back and forth” after the former spoke up about the topic in a meeting and, five days later, was fired due to “budget cuts.” Davis was also fired on the spot in May 2023 after Lizzo supposedly found out that Davis recorded performance notes; the dancer ascribed it to an eye condition that would make her disoriented when in a stressful situation. A month prior, Lizzo confronted Davis about her “commitment,” however Davis saw it as a “thinly veiled criticism of her weight.”
Meanwhile, Rodriguez had quit due to the treatment by her teammates and Quigley’s religious harassment as she reportedly “pushed her Christianity on dancers.” Although the suit states that Lizzo may not have been aware of Quigley’s behavior, she had known about the complaints made to management that were eventually not even addressed. Rodriguez also spoke about Williams and Davis getting fired but was disregarded as “we’ve never had problems with you,” and noted that as “one of the few members of the dance cast who is not black,” she “was not painted with the same generalized and unfounded criticisms as the black members of the dance cast.”
“The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly, while privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing,” Ron Zambrano, the attorney of the dancers, said in a statement.
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