Lizzo, the Grammy-winning pop star who has made physique positivity a significant a part of her model, is being sued by three of her former dancers who accused the singer of making a hostile office surroundings. The swimsuit, which names Lizzo, her manufacturing firm, and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley as defendants, alleges quite a few points together with sexual harassment, claims of spiritual and racial harassment, false imprisonment, interference with potential financial benefit and extra, in accordance with NBC News. (Not all the allegations are directed at each defendant.)
Lawyer Ron Zambrano stated in a press release, “The gorgeous nature of how Lizzo and her administration group handled their performers appears to go in opposition to every thing Lizzo stands for publicly, whereas privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in methods that aren’t solely unlawful however completely demoralizing.”
Arianna Davis, a former contestant on Lizzo’s actuality collection Watch Out For The Big Girls, reported the singer noting that Davis appeared “much less dedicated” to her function after acting at SXSW Festival, a remark Davis believed to be a “thinly veiled” reference to her weight. Elsewhere within the swimsuit, she alleged that Lizzo pressured her to the touch a nude dancer at a strip membership after social gathering in Amsterdam. After allegedly “inviting solid members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and consuming bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas,” she goaded Davis into touching one of many ladies’s breasts, the swimsuit claims. When Davis declined, Lizzo allegedly started a chant that “grew louder and extra strident, demanding a visibly uncomfortable Ms. Davis to interact with the performer.”
Elsewhere, the swimsuit alleges that the dance solid (comprised of ladies of shade) had been handled otherwise than the remainder of the crew on tour. The swimsuit additionally claims Quigley, the dance captain, “took each alternative to proselytize” about her spiritual beliefs “to any and all in her presence no matter protestations,” allegedly pressuring one dancer whom she thought of a “non-believer” over her religion.
Two of the three dancers within the swimsuit had been dismissed, and Lizzo allegedly instructed her dance solid throughout a gathering that she had “eyes and ears in all places.” When the singer later discovered Davis had recorded the assembly (supposedly because of a well being situation, and in order that she might evaluate any notes afterwards), “Lizzo grew to become livid, hurling expletives on the group and acknowledged that she was going to go across the room, person-by-person till somebody instructed Lizzo who made the recording,” in accordance with the swimsuit. When Davis admitted to recording, “Ms. Quigley and Lizzo then took turns berating Ms. Davis. After castigating Ms. Davis, Lizzo fireplace[d] Ms. Davis on the spot.”
Per NBC News, whereas there isn’t a particular greenback quantity connected to the swimsuit, the dancers are searching for “damages that cowl emotional misery together with unpaid wages, lack of earnings and legal professional’s charges.”
