Lizzo breaks her silence about the lawsuits filed against her.
The singer was sued in 2023 for alleged sexual harassment and a hostile work environment by three former dancers – Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez. Soon after, she faced similar allegations in a separate lawsuit filed by clothing designer Asha Daniels.
The “About Damn Time” singer (real name: Melissa Viviane Jefferson) delved deeper into the subject for the first time on the Honey, this is Keke Palmer podcast on December 19. Lizzo, who has denied the allegations, said she was “blindsided” by the dancers’ claims, saying that “none of these things were true” and “I did nothing wrong.”
This month, Lizzo was dismissed as an individual from Daniels’ lawsuit. Her traveling companions remain a defendant.
Attorney Ron Zambrano, who represents the dancers, told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement that their lawsuit is continuing: “We just wanted to clarify that Lizzo remains a defendant in the harassment lawsuit filed by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, who is currently is tightened. will be reviewed by the court of appeal.”
What are the charges against Lizzo?
The lawsuit filed by the dancers against Lizzo in Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 1, 2023, included alleged sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment.
We’ve detailed the full allegations here, but one of the claims was that Lizzo shamed one of the women. Two claimed they had been pressured into nude photo shoots. One of them said she was pressured to touch a nude artist’s breast in an Amsterdam club. One claimed to have almost been attacked by Lizzo. They also claimed the singer subjected them to an ‘excruciating’ audition after wrongly blaming them for drinking on the job.
They accused the captain of Lizzo’s dance team, Shirlene Quigley, of preaching Christianity to the dancers and sharing sex fantasies. Quigley is also accused of publicly discussing the virginity of one of the women.
Here’s how Lizzo handled the allegations at the time:
Lizzo, her production and touring company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, and Quigley were named as defendants in the lawsuit. It is currently under review by the Court of Appeal, with the next hearing on January 14, 2025.
In September 2023, Daniels, a fashion designer who toured with Lizzo, filed a lawsuit against the singer, her production company, her wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura, and tour manager Carlina Gugliotta, alleging racial and sexual harassment. She claimed that while the star preached body positivity and inclusivity, people who worked for her were forced to work in a “racist and sexualized” environment.
Daniels said she was initially thrilled to be hired to design costumes for Lizzo and her dancers, but never worked or spoke directly with the singer. She said she worked 20-hour days. She alleged that racist and fatphobic comments were made in her presence in the workplace. She claimed that Nomura rolled a clothes rack over her foot and wouldn’t let her seek medical attention. She also alleged that Nomura called the black women on tour “stupid,” “useless” and “fat.”
Earlier this month, a federal court judge in California dismissed Lizzo from the lawsuit, saying Daniels had no standing to sue her. Gugliotta was also dropped from the lawsuit. Lizzo’s tour group remains a plaintiff, and that case is ongoing.
What did Lizzo tell Palmer about the allegations?
Lizzo called her dismissal from Daniels’ lawsuit “a big victory.” She promised that she would “continue to fight the other claims until they are all dismissed — not withdrawn, but dismissed.”
Lizzo addressed the dancers’ accusations, saying, “The hardest part about all of this is that none of these things were true.” She added, “I was literally living my dream, and then the tour ended, and three ex-dancers just completely blindsided me with a lawsuit.”
The singer said she was “very deeply hurt because these were three dancers… that I gave opportunities. These were people who – I liked them and appreciated them as dancers. …So I was like, ‘What?!’ But then I heard all the other stuff, like sexual harassment, and I thought… ‘I don’t know what they’re trying to do.’
About the trip to the Amsterdam burlesque show, Lizzo said it was a “consensual” outing – she had been there before and would go again – and that no one else had to go.
“I went [to Bananenbar] on my own,” the star said on the podcast, adding that she would not discuss the subject again. ‘I didn’t take [the dancers] everywhere. They came to the club I was at, and it wasn’t a mandatory invitation, and I didn’t even know that those two particular dancers [plaintiffs] came. Mind you, only two came, even though all three said there were only two.”
She said they chose to meet the dancers after the performance and claimed there were videos and photos of them having a good time. She also shared the lesson she learned when she realized she is the boss.
“I think this experience has taught me healthy boundaries,” she said, adding, “but to be honest, it was such a fun night.”
Zambrano told Yahoo in a statement: “There is a total lack of awareness on Lizzo’s part as she fails to see how these young women on her team, who are just starting their careers, would feel pressured to accept an invitation from their worldwide famous boss, who rarely interacts with them. them. There is a power dynamic in the boss-employee context that Lizzo completely fails to appreciate. We stand behind the claims in the lawsuit and are prepared to prove everything in court, while Lizzo stands under oath before a jury of her peers, without spouting nonsense and lies that undermine the inability to be held accountable on a podcast rationalize.’
Lizzo told Palmer she has learned a lot from the trials.
“This is the part of fame you subconsciously sign up for,” she said. “People will just believe everything bad about you now, because there’s something about the fact that you’re a famous person, it’s almost like people want to believe that you’re a bad person, and they can’t believe that you’re actually boring, chill and are nice. ”
What’s next for the singer?
While all of this has kept Lizzo somewhat in the background, she made it clear that she is not on a professional break. Before the lawsuits, she was on a career high, winning Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” at the 2023 Grammys. She is currently working on a new album.
“A lot of the music is me talking about things,” she told Palmer. “I remembered my purpose… I put everything into my art.”
