Singer Lizzo accused of sexual harassment and weight-shaming by former dancers
Three of Lizzo’s former dancers are suing the Good as Hell performer, as well as Big Grrrl Big Touring and Shirlene Quigley, for allegedly subjecting them to endure weight-shaming, sexually denigrating behaviour and pressuring them to participate in disturbing sex shows.
Plaintiffs Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams claim in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday and obtained by Page Six that they were eventually fired while the third plaintiff, Noelle Rodriguez, resigned over Lizzo’s “stunning” behaviour.
While on a concert trip with the Grammy Award-winning artist to Amsterdam in February 2023, the plaintiffs claim Lizzo invited them for a night out on the town — which ended in the city’s red light district.
The area is known for its sex theatres, sex shops and clubs and bars where nudity is on full display.
The lawsuit states, “ … things quickly got out of hand. Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”
The suit also claims Lizzo allegedly “pressured” and “goaded” Davis into touching one nude performer’s breasts.
The plaintiffs claim that, just a month later, Lizzo, 35, deceived them once again into attending a nude show, thereby “robbing them of the choice not to participate,” the documents state.
Davis also claims in the lawsuit that at one point, she had no choice but to “soil herself” on stage during an “excruciating” re-audition, “fearing the repercussions” of excusing herself to go to the rest room.
Eventually, Lizzo allegedly fired Davis “on the spot” after learning Davis had recorded one of their meetings even though it was in order to have “a copy of the notes” the artist provided.
Rodriguez resigned shortly thereafter out of solidarity with Davis and the “disrespect” Lizzo allegedly showed her.
The lawsuit claims she “feared that Lizzo intended to hit her and would have done so if one of the other dancers had not intervened.”
The plaintiffs are suing for general and special damages, as well as punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
“The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly, while privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are … absolutely demoralising,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement.
