Former dancers slap Lizzo with lawsuit for sexual harassment, racism, weight-shaming
Lizzo is being sued by three of her former dancers on alleged sexual, racial and religious harrasment and toxic work environment. Photo: Getty Images
A civil lawsuit has been filed against Lizzo on August 1, Tuesday, by three of her former dancers who accused the American rapper of sexual harassment, and claimed that Lizzo's production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc, created a hostile work environment.
Three of Lizzo's former backup dancers, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, filed a lawsuit against Lizzo; her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc; and Lizzo's dance team captain, Shirlene Quigley in Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 1, Tuesday morning.
The plaintiffs, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, have made numerous charges against the Grammy Award winner including sexual, religious and racial harassment, hostile work environment, disability discrimination and false imprisonment.
What happened?
- Sexual harassment: The dancers claimed that Lizzo pressured them into touching nude performers, despite the dancers "desire not to touch the performer" while they were at a sexually themed show at a club in Amsterdam's Red Light District.
- Lizzo body-shamed Arianna Davis: Lizzo, who herself champions body positivity strongly, was accused of weight-shaming Arianna Davis. Lizzo accused Davis for not seeming to be committed to her role.
- As per the complaint, in May, Davis was fired because she was recording a meeting during which Lizzo was giving out notes to the dancers about their performances. Apparently, Arianna Davis was innocently recording the meeting with no harmful intentions because the dancer has an eye condition that leaves her disoriented during stressful situations.
- In the complaint against Lizzo, it was written that the "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."
- Religious harassment faced by the dancers: In the lawsuit, it also accuses Shirlene Quigley, the captain of the American singer's dance team, for pushing her Christian beliefs onto the dancers. She also shamed those who engaged in premarital sex and referred to Arianna Davis as a "non believer" and told her co-workers that "no job and no one will stop me from talking about the Lord."
What did the plaintiff's lawyer say?
The plaintiffs' lawyer Ron Zambrano said in a statement, "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 demoralising."
The dancers faced racial harassment
The dancers also said that they faced racial harassment from Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc (BGBT) management and alleged that the company "treated the Black members of the dance team differently than other members".
The lawsuit against Lizzo and her production company states, "BGBT’s management team consisted entirely of white Europeans who often accused the Black members of the dance team of being lazy, unprofessional, and having bad attitudes."
Is Beyoncé disappointed in Lizzo?
In a video that has been going viral on social media, Beyoncé, who is on the Renaissance World Tour, skipped Lizzo’s name during the Queens Remix performance of her song Break My Soul and instead, repeated American singer Erykah Badu’s name four times.
Beyoncé was performing at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on August 1.
This comes after the lawsuit was filed against Lizzo by her former dancers on grounds of sexual harassment and toxic work environment.
Lizzo had attended Beyoncé's concert in Warsaw on June 27 and was super enthusiastic about it.
Beyoncé seemingly skips over Lizzo’s name during the Queens Remix performance of ‘Break My Soul’ tonight at the Renaissance World Tour.
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 2, 2023
She instead repeats Erykah Badu’s name four times.
pic.twitter.com/KhCC3TBbLF
Is this the first time Lizzo is accused of mistreatment?
American documentary filmmaker and photographer, Sophia Nahli Allison, 36, has come forward and shared her experience of Lizzo mistreating her in 2019 and after that, she dropped out as a director of Lizzo's documentary.
Sophia Nahli Allison shared a tweet saying that she was treated disrespectfully by Lizzo and "witnessed how arrogant, self-centred and unkind she is".
Sharing this because validating other Black women's experiences is deeply important to me. pic.twitter.com/gd2xEK6szq
— Sophia Nahli Allison (@SophiaNAllison) August 1, 2023