Music creative Lizzo has responded with a statement to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Courtby on Tuesday (August 2, 2023) by three of the singer’s tour dancers alleging she sexually harassed them and created a hostile work environment through sexual, racial and religious harassment in various incidents from 2021 through 2023.
The plaintiffs in the case are the dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, who are
represented by lawyer Ron Zambrano. Davis and Williams won spots on Lizzo’s dance team after competing on her Amazon Prime reality TV show, “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” in 2021. Both dancers were fired in spring 2023. Rodriguez was brought on in May 2021 to perform in Lizzo’s “Rumors” music video and subsequenly joined her dance team. She resigned after Davis and Williams were fired.
Releasing her response on social media, Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) said in part, “Usually I choose not to respond to false allegations but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed,” Lizzo said in a statement posted Instagram. “These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional.
“I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not,” the statement noted. “There is nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world. I know what it feels like to be body shamed on a daily basis and would absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight.”
The suit includes a litany of complaints including Lizzo allegedly pressuring a dancer to touch a nude
performer at a club and forcing several dancers to take part in an “excruciating” 12-hour audition. The suit also claims Lizzo’s dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, pushed her Christian beliefs on performers and
criticize those who had premarital sex.
