Lizzo—who’s made a reputation for herself for selling feminine empowerment, good vibes, and physique positivity in her music and in her life—is being sued by a bunch of her former backup dancers, who declare she sexually and verbally harassed them, and even made destructive feedback about their weight.
The “About Rattling Time” singer broke her silence this week on the allegations. Forward, every part we all know concerning the case.
When was the lawsuit filed?
The lawsuit, despatched to Harper’s Bazaar by the plaintiffs’ regulation agency, was filed this Tuesday, August 1, in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom, by three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers: Arianna Davis, Noelle Rodriguez, and Crystal Williams. It was filed towards Lizzo; her manufacturing firm, Huge Grrrl Huge Touring Inc.; and her dance workforce captain, Shirlene Quigley.
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What are the accusations towards Lizzo?
Within the swimsuit, Davis, Rodriguez, and Williams element varied alleged incidents involving the singer, together with an event once they declare Lizzo coerced them into attending a bunch outing at a membership in Amsterdam’s red-light district after which pressured them to the touch nude performers through the present.
Davis additionally accused Lizzo of shaming her about gaining weight, which she says Lizzo knew was a results of stress consuming introduced on by anxiousness and melancholy. Lizzo has since denied this declare, in an announcement shared to social media. “There’s nothing I take extra severely than the respect we deserve as girls on the planet,” the singer wrote. “I do know what it feels prefer to be physique shamed each day and would completely by no means criticize or terminate an worker due to their weight.”
What are the accusations towards the opposite events?
The plaintiffs accuse Quigley, the dance workforce captain, of shaming staffers who don’t share her Christian beliefs, together with those that follow premarital intercourse. Additionally they declare that in the meantime, she recurrently overshares about her “masturbatory habits” and sexual fantasies.
Davis provides that after she shared with Quigley that she was a virgin, Quigley broadcast that non-public info in interviews and on social media with out Davis’s permission.
The dancers additionally declare they have been discriminated towards by BGBT administration, who allegedly “handled the Black members of the dance workforce in another way than different members.”
What has Lizzo mentioned concerning the claims?
On Thursday, August 3, the pop star shared a prolonged assertion on social media defending herself towards the accusations and deeming them “outrageous.”
“These previous few days have been intestine wrenchingly tough and overwhelming disappointing,” she started. “My work ethic, morals and respectfulness have been questioned. My character has been criticized. Often I select not to answer false allegations however these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”
She mentioned the claims have been made by former staff who have been reprimanded for his or her “inappropriate” habits. And she or he added that whereas she doesn’t need to be seen as a “sufferer,” she can also be “not the villain that folks and the media have portrayed me to be these previous few days.”
How did the dancers react to her assertion?
In an announcement shared to Bazaar.com on Thursday, the plaintiffs accuse Lizzo of inflicting extra hurt than good along with her response to their claims.
“Lizzo has failed her personal model and has let down her followers. Her denial of this reprehensible habits solely provides to our shoppers’ emotional misery,” the assertion from the plaintiffs’ legal professional reads. “The dismissive feedback and utter lack of empathy are fairly telling about her character and solely serve to reduce the trauma she has induced the plaintiffs and different staff who’ve now come ahead sharing their very own destructive experiences. Whereas Lizzo notes it was by no means her intention ‘to make anybody really feel uncomfortable,’ that’s precisely what she did to the purpose of demoralizing her dancers and flagrantly violating the regulation.”
The previous backup dancers additionally spoke to Leisure Tonight concerning the singer’s feedback.
“I feel for me, it’s simply very attention-grabbing to be so open and real concerning the trauma that we skilled and to be open concerning the damage that she induced us, for her to [respond back by] primarily gaslighting us,” Williams informed the outlet.
“She by no means acknowledged any of the claims [directly] that we now have introduced ahead to the desk. And so for it to be met with that, it simply type of solidifies the sample that each time we carry up a problem, each time we advocate for ourselves, each time we communicate up for ourselves, we’re met with retaliation as a substitute of ‘Okay, you skilled this,’” Williams mentioned. “However we weren’t met with that. We have been always being gaslit, and he or she’s always deflecting. So it simply additional proves our level and solidifies the claims that we’re making.”
Rosa Sanchez is the senior information editor at Harper’s Bazaar, engaged on information because it pertains to leisure, style, and tradition. Beforehand, she was a information editor at ABC Information and, previous to that, a managing editor of movie star information at American Media. She has additionally written options for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, amongst different retailers.
