Three of Lizzo’s former dancers have filed a lawsuit against her, alleging sexual harassment and a toxic work environment.
The case, which was filed on Tuesday, alleges sexual, religious, and racial harassment, discrimination, assault, and false imprisonment.
Former dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez are the plaintiffs in the case.
Lizzo and the other suspects have been contacted for comment.
The complaint, filed in Los Angeles, alleges that between 2021 and 2023, the dancers were “forced to endure sexually demeaning behaviour” and “pressured into participating in disturbing sex shows.”
Among the allegations levelled against Lizzo, whose actual name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, are that she “pressured Ms Davis to touch the breasts” of a performer at an Amsterdam nightclub, and that Ms Davis finally acquiesced “fearing it would harm her future on the team” if she didn’t.
Lizzo, who is renowned for promoting her body and self-love, is also accused of weight-shaming Ms Davis on tour, along with dance choreographer Tanisha Scott.
According to the complaint, Ms Davis claims the two questioned if she was “struggling with something as she seemed less committed to her role on the dance cast.”
The queries, while never expressly stated, “gave Ms Davis the impression that she needed to explain her weight gain and disclose intimate personal details about her life in order to keep her job,” according to the complaint.
Shirlene Quigley, the dance team’s captain, is also accused of pushing her Christian views on performers and mocking those who indulged in premarital sex, according to the complaint.
She is also accused of publicly discussing the virginity of one of the former dancers and blogging about it on social media.
The management team of production business Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. has also been accused of racial discrimination.
It claims that black dancing troop members were “treated differently” than other members of the squad.
They were accused of being “lazy, unprofessional, and having bad attitudes” – according to the complaint, these are tropes often used “to disparage and discourage” black women, and that other dancers were not treated in this manner.
The plaintiffs also claim that Lizzo and the production firm team underpaid them throughout Lizzo’s European tour.
They allege they were only granted 25% of their weekly compensating compensation when not performing on the tour, although other performers earned 50%, and they were also advised not to work on other projects while on tour.
According to the complaint, two of the three dancers implicated in the action, Ms Davis and Ms Williams, met Lizzo in March 2021 while preparing to participate on the reality TV programme Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.
Ms Rodriguez, the third, was recruited later in May 2021 to appear in Lizzo’s Rumours music video. She then remained a member of the dancing troupe, according to the report.
Ms Davis and Ms Williams were sacked from the dance team, and Ms Rodriguez subsequently quit in protest of her coworkers’ alleged mistreatment.
More in Entertainment: https://buzzing.today/entertainment/
Photo Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/