What you need to know:
Three former Lizzo dancers accused her, along with her team, of sexual and labor harassment and even racism.
Although Lizzo is known for being an artist who supports the ‘Body Positive’ movement. and invites people to learn to love themselves as they are, a new demand has brought the singer into focus, because three of her former dancers accuse her of sexual and labor harassment.
The NBC News portal announced that the Los Angeles Superior Court filed a lawsuit against Melissa Viviane Jefferson (Lizzo’s real name), for alleged sexual harassment and also for creating a hostile work environment.
Lizzo’s former dancers accuse her of sexual and labor harassment
According to the lawsuit seen by NBC News, one of the dancers named Arianna Davis, accused the singer of pointing fingers at her and shaming her for her weight after a show they gave at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival.
The lawsuit states that Lizzo and her choreographer, Shirlene Quigley (also with serious allegations that we’ll talk about later in this story) Davis was told that she seemed “less committed” to her work because of her weight, something the singer was reportedly concerned about.
Lizzo is accused of making comments about the weight of her dancers
“The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her team treated their artists seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publiclywhile in private he shames his dancers and degrades them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing.”the dancers’ attorney told NBC News.
And it is that in addition to Davis, other former dancers named Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez also pointed to Shirlene Quigley of “proselytizing other dancers and ridiculing the dancers with sexual and quite personal situations.
The lawsuit is also directed at Lizzo’s choreographer.
Lizzo’s three former dancers recounted that the singer pressured one of them to play a nude artist in an Amsterdam club and put the group through an “excruciating” audition after accusing them of drinking alcohol on the job. Something that was false.
According to the lawsuit, this It happened on a visit that Lizzo and her dancers made to a strip club in Amsterdam, Bananenbarat the beginning of this 2023. There the singer began to ask several of her companions to play nude artists.
Lizzo allegedly harassed her dancers to engage in acts of a sexual nature
The prosecution mentions that Lizzo prompted people to “catch the dildos thrown from the vaginas of the artists and eat bananas that were sticking out of their vaginas,” and later pressured Arianna Davis to grope the breasts of one of the women at the club.
Davis refused to do that and the singer became more foolish. When the dancer finally agreed, Lizzo and her team started laughing. and then the interpreter of songs as “Juice” began to harass a member of his personal security.
“The plaintiffs were appalled by Lizzo’s lack of regard for the bodily autonomy of her employees. and those around her, especially in the presence of many people she employed.”the lawsuit says.
The ex-dancers’ lawyers indicate that Lizzo did something similar in Paris, where she deceived her dancers to a strip club and knowing that they would not refuse to go, because the plaintiffs indicate that those who agreed to go to Lizzo’s parties received preferential treatment and better employment benefits.
Lizzo and her team are accused of racism and sexual harassment
For her part, Noelle Rodríguez says that Quigley messed with her religious beliefs and wanted to instill hers in her even when she repeatedly asked her not to. And wait, that’s not all, well even the production company of Lizzo’s tour has a lawsuit against him.
Williams and Davis stated that tour bus drivers played sexually explicit songs and off-the-cuff comments. In addition, the subjects made comments that made the dancers uncomfortable and did not feel protected by the “higher-ups” of the company.
Big Grrrl Big Touring faces accusations of treating black team members differently to the white dancers. The lawsuit says the production company accused the black dancers of “being lazy, unprofessional and having bad attitudes.”
Finally Lizzo is also accused of having violent attitudes against the plaintiffs, whom he subjected to re-auditions for long hours and without the opportunity to go to the bathroom. All this as a method to instill fear in the dancers of losing their job if they did not do what they were asked to do.
Lizzo’s representatives have not commented on the matter.
Until now, Lizzo’s representatives, neither the singer herself nor the others involved in the lawsuit, have ruled on these accusations.
