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Did Lizzo engage in sexual harassment and weight shaming?
Did Lizzo create a hostile work environment?
Nov 22, 2023 · The lawsuit alleging Lizzo harassed a trio of backup dancers had its first major court hearing Wednesday, with lawyers on both sides sparring over allegations the singer created a hostile work...
Aug 3, 2023 · By Lindsay Lowe. Three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers have filed a lawsuit against the “Juice” singer, her production company and dance captain Shirlene Quigley, alleging sexual harassment...
- Lindsay Lowe
Aug 3, 2023 · Lizzo, a pop star who has built her brand on both body positivity and empowering upbeat hits, is facing a new lawsuit that levels serious allegations, including claims that she created a hostile...
Feb 2, 2024 · The case against Lizzo, filed in August by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, accuses the singer (real name Melissa Jefferson) and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of...
- Bill Donahue
- Overview
- Amsterdam club accusations
- Harassment claim
- Dancers dismissed
LOS ANGELES — Three of Lizzo’s former dancers have accused the singer of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. They also allege that she pressured one of them to touch a nude performer at an Amsterdam club and subjected the group to an “excruciating” audition after leveling false accusations that they were drinking on the job.
The dancers accused Lizzo — a performer known for embracing body positivity and celebrating her physique — of calling attention to one dancer’s weight gain and later berating, then firing, that dancer after she recorded a meeting because of a health condition.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and provided to NBC News by the plaintiffs’ law firm, also accuses the captain of Lizzo’s dance team of proselytizing to other performers and deriding those who had premarital sex while sharing lewd sexual fantasies, simulating oral sex and publicly discussing the virginity of one of the plaintiffs.
The suit does not say if Lizzo knew about the allegations linked to the dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, but the plaintiffs believed the singer was aware of their complaints about her, according to their lawyer, Ron Zambrano.
The suit names Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, her production company and Quigley as defendants. In addition to accusations of a hostile work environment and sexual harassment, the suit brings claims for religious and racial harassment, false imprisonment, interference with prospective economic advantage and other allegations. Not every claim was brought against each defendant.
“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,” Zambrano said in a statement.
The trip to the Amsterdam strip club, Bananenbar, happened after a performance in the city earlier this year. The suit states that Lizzo’s afterparties were routine and nonmandatory — but alleges that those who attended were favored by the singer and had greater job security.
At the club, Lizzo allegedly “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,” the suit says. “Lizzo then turned her attention to Ms. Davis and began pressuring Ms. Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women.”
Davis declined, according to the suit, and Lizzo allegedly led a chant goading her to do so. After Davis declined three more times, the chant “grew louder and more strident, demanding a visibly uncomfortable Ms. Davis to engage with the performer.”
When Davis eventually acquiesced and briefly touched the performer, the group burst into laughter, the suit says. Afterward, Lizzo allegedly pressed a member of her security staff to get on stage and began yelling, “take it off,” according to the suit.
“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 says.
A week later, after a show in Paris, Lizzo invited her dancers to a club so “they would be able to learn something or be inspired by the performance,” the suit says. “What Lizzo failed to mention when inviting the dancers to this performance was that it was a nude cabaret bar.”
The racial harassment claim is linked to what the suit describes as comments “charged with racial and fat-phobic animus" that were made by touring company employees.
In one instance, the former dancers asked to be compensated for their downtime at a rate 50% of their weekly pay, according to the suit. An accountant allegedly responded to the request by offering 25% and scolding them for being “unacceptable and disrespectful.”
“Only the dance cast — comprised of full-figured women of color — were ever spoken to in this manner,” the suit states.
The religious harassment allegation is connected to Quigley, the dance captain who also worked as a judge on Lizzo’s reality show. According to the suit, she preached her Christian beliefs and “took every opportunity to proselytize to any and all in her presence regardless of protestations.”
Two dancers were fired in April and May. According to the suit, Williams lost her job April 26, days after she spoke up at a meeting in which she challenged an assertion from Lizzo that the dancers were drinking before performances.
The day before, Lizzo had told the group that they would have to audition again, a move that prompted what the suit described as an “excruciating” 12-hour rehearsal.
If Lizzo was dissatisfied with their performances, the suit alleges, the dancers would be fired and sent home.
During the rehearsal, Davis was so fearful she’d lose her job if she went to the bathroom, she soiled her pants. She was given a see-through outfit with no undergarments to finish the performance, the suit says.
When Lizzo raised the issue again the following day, Williams responded, saying the dancers didn’t drink, the suit says. The singer then allegedly offered what the suit describes as a mocking reply: “Well if you’re not, then good for y’all.”
Five days later, on April 26, Lizzo’s tour manager fired Williams in a hotel lobby, the suit says. The manager attributed the termination to budget cuts, said the suit, which noted that no one else was fired.
Aug 2, 2023 · Three of Lizzo’s former dancers filed a lawsuit against her on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing the Grammy-winning singer and the captain of her dance team of creating a...
Sep 21, 2023 · LOS ANGELES — The day she was set to receive an award recognizing her work promoting inclusivity and social justice, Lizzo was again sued by a former employee who said that behind the scenes,...
