After three of her former dancers sued her this week, accusing her of weight-shaming, sexual harassment, and creating a toxic work environment, Lizzo has answered.
She posted on Instagram, saying, “The past few days were gut-wrenchingly difficult & overwhelmingly disappointing.” “People have questioned my work ethic, morals, and respectability. My persona has come under fire. Normally, I refrain from responding to false accusations, but these are too absurd and unbelievable to be ignored.
Three dancers who had previously worked with Lizzo, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, filed a lawsuit against the singer and her team on August 1 in Los Angeles. They claimed that Lizzo had pressured one of these individuals in an Amsterdam strip club into touching a nude performer and had put them through an “excruciating” audition after deceptively accusing them of drinking at work. The lawsuit also alleged racial and religious abuse as well as weight shaming.
Lizzo, her production firm Big Grrrl Big Touring, and dance leader Shirlene Quigley are named as defendants in the complaint. Not every defendant in the lawsuit was subject to every claim that was made. NBC News was unable to get in touch with the production business for comment.
Lizzo responded to the dancers’ claims in her response.
These sensationalized accounts are the work of ex-employees who have already openly acknowledged receiving feedback about their conduct while on tour that was inappropriate and unprofessional.
“Hard effort and high standards go hand in hand with passion. Even though I occasionally have to make difficult choices, it is never my goal to make anyone feel unwelcome or unimportant as a member of the team.
The dancers’ lawyer Ron Zambrano responded to Lizzo’s remarks by saying that her “denial of this reprehensible behavior” worsens his clients’ misery.
“Her character is revealed quite clearly by the flippant remarks and complete lack of empathy, which only help to downplay the trauma she has inflicted on the plaintiffs and other employees who have since come forward to share their own terrible experiences. Even though Lizzo claims she never meant to “make anyone feel uncomfortable,” she nevertheless succeeded in doing so to the extent that it undermined the morale of her dancers and she blatantly broke the law.
According to Lizzo’s statement, she does not want to be “looked at as a victim” but equally does not want to be “the villain.”
“I am very outspoken about my sexuality and how I express myself, but I cannot accept it or allow people to misrepresent me because of that openness.”
Lizzo also made an attempt to respond to Davis’ claims that Lizzo had made disparaging remarks about her weight. According to the lawsuit, Lizzo and a choreographer expressed “thinly veiled” worries about Davis’ weight gain. In an interview with TODAY on August 2, Davis stated that she had “never experienced blatant fatphobia.”
Underlying all the other problems at play, it was subtle and fundamental, Davis added. I simply received the impression that they were unhappy with how I was gaining weight and changing physically and that I wasn’t “the same” as when they first considered casting me.
In their lawsuit, Davis and Williams claim they were let go early this year. Rodriguez, the third dancer, claims to have quit.
Lizzo claimed in her letter that she has experienced body shaming and that she “would absolutely never criticize or dismiss an employee due to their weight.”
Even though I’m hurt, she vowed not to let this overshadow the positive deeds she had accomplished in the world.