Lizzo has responded to a lawsuit that three of her former dancers filed towards her this week, saying the “false allegations” are “as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.” The dancers are suing Lizzo for sexual harassment and making a hostile work atmosphere, in addition to looking for damages for emotional misery together with unpaid wages, lack of earnings, and legal professional charges.
Lizzo wrote on social media, “With ardour comes onerous work and excessive requirements. Generally I’ve to make onerous choices however it’s by no means my intention to make anybody really feel uncomfortable or like they aren’t valued as an necessary a part of the crew. I’m not right here to be checked out as a sufferer, however I additionally know that I’m not the villain that folks and the media have portrayed me to be be these previous few days. I’m very open with my sexuality and expressing myself however I can’t settle for or enable folks to make use of that openness to make me out to be one thing I’m not.” Learn the total assertion under.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket on August 1, names Lizzo, her Huge Grrl Huge Touring manufacturing firm, and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley as defendants. The grievance cites cases of racial discrimination, incapacity discrimination, and an incident in Amsterdam the place Lizzo allegedly pressured a dancer into touching a nude performer’s naked breasts. The lawsuit additionally states that on the identical event, Lizzo urged dancers to “catch dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas and eat bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”
The three plaintiffs—Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez—started working with Lizzo in 2021. Williams claims she misplaced her job after talking up throughout a rehearsal after Lizzo allegedly accused the dancers of ingesting forward of rehearsals. Davis alleges that she was fired on the spot after Lizzo found she had recorded an April 27 assembly, which Davis says she did to accommodate a stress-related eye situation. Rodriguez says she publicly resigned in response to Lizzo’s firing of Davis.
The dancers’ lawyer Ron Zambrano mentioned in a press release, “The gorgeous nature of how Lizzo and her administration crew handled their performers appears to go towards 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.”
Lizzo’s full assertion:
These previous few days have been intestine wrenchingly troublesome and overwhelmingly disappointing. My work ethic, morals and respectfulness have been questioned. My character has been criticized. Often I select not to reply to false allegations however these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.
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