Lizzo has been accused of fostering a hostile work environment, with three of her former dancers filing suit against the singer with allegations of fat shaming, sexual harassment and more.
According to NBC News, the lawsuit — which names Lizzo, her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, and her dance captain, Shirlene Quigley — was filed on Tuesday (August 1).
Among the allegations, the plaintiffs have claimed Lizzo once called attention to one dancer’s weight gain and later berated then fired that person after they recorded a meeting “because of a health condition.”
Explained in more detail, dancer Arianna Davis claimed the singer and her choreographer told her after a SXSW performance that she seemed “less committed” to her role — which she alleged was a “thinly veiled” concern about her weight.
The dancers have also accused Lizzo of pressuring them to touch a nude performer at an Amsterdam club.
As for the dance captain, the plaintiffs are accusing her 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 three people suing.
While the suit doesn’t say whether Lizzo knew about this, the plaintiffs’ lawyer told NBC that they believe she was aware.
“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,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer Rob Zambrano said in a statement.
According to the suit, Davis and fellow plaintiff Crystal Williams started working with Lizzo after competing on her 2021 Amazon reality show, Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, and were later fired. The third, Noelle Rodriguez, was hired the same year after performing in the “Rumors” video and resigned earlier this year.
Neither Lizzo nor her reps have responded to the allegations as of this writing.
The nature of the allegations are particularly notable considering Lizzo’s public stance on body-shaming. Just recently in May, the “Rumors” singer spoke out against some of the harsh critiques she’s received regarding her weight. Notably, she admitted that negative comments online were starting to get to her and were causing her to “hate the world.”
While many folks have accused her of being “unhealthy,” the singer said she is quite health-conscious and is focused on simply trying to live her best life, no matter her size.
At one point, Lizzo even claimed that she has considered “giving up on everyone” and quitting the music business to “enjoy my money, and my man, on a fucking farm.” The singer also took a moment to note that “being fat is not her brand” and that it just happens to be how her body looks.
The famed singer took it a step further with a post she made via Instagram, where she said that online trolls “make it hard for fat people to exist.”
Lizzo has been a big proponent of self-love and acceptance, often speaking out about fat-shaming, racism, and more. In the past, she has has expressed that there are “real problems” that people need to call out but claimed that cancel culture has “robbed” marginalized communities’ ability to do so.