Lizzo is breaking her silence about the lawsuits filed against her.
The singer was sued for alleged sexual harassment and a hostile work environment by three former dancers — Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez — in 2023. 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) went in depth on the topic for the first time on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast on Dec. 19. Lizzo, who has denied the allegations, said she was “blindsided” by the dancers’ claims, saying “none of these things were true” and “I did nothing wrong.”
This month Lizzo as an individual was dismissed from Daniels’s lawsuit. Her touring company remains a defendant.
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Attorney Ron Zambrano, who represents the dancers, told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement that their lawsuit continues: “We just wanted to clarify that Lizzo remains a defendant in the harassment lawsuit filed by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, which is currently being reviewed by the court of appeals.”
What are the allegations against Lizzo?
The lawsuit filed by the dancers against Lizzo in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Aug. 1, 2023, alleged sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment, among other claims.
We broke down the full allegations here, but among the claims was that Lizzo weight-shamed one of the women. Two alleged they were pressured into nude photoshoots. One said she was pressured to touch a nude performer’s breast at an Amsterdam club. One claimed to be nearly assaulted by Lizzo. They also alleged that the singer subjected them to an “excruciating” audition after falsely blaming them for drinking while working.
They accused the captain of Lizzo’s dance team, Shirlene Quigley, of preaching Christianity to the dancers and sharing sex fantasies. Quigley also is accused of publicly discussing the virginity of one of the women.
Here’s how Lizzo addressed 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’s currently being reviewed by the Court of Appeal, with the next hearing set for Jan. 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 alleged that while the star preached body positivity and inclusion, people who worked for her were forced to work in a “racist and sexualized” environment.
Daniels said while she was initially thrilled to be hired to design costumes for Lizzo and her dancers, she never worked or spoke directly with the singer. She said she worked 20-hour days. She claimed that in the workplace setting, racist and fat-phobic remarks were made in her presence. She alleged that Nomura rolled a clothing rack over her foot and wouldn’t let her seek medical attention. She also claimed Nomura referred to the Black women on tour as “dumb,” “useless” and “fat.”
Earlier this month, a California federal court judge dismissed Lizzo from the lawsuit, saying Daniels had no standing to sue her. Gugliotta also was cut from the lawsuit. Lizzo’s touring company remains a plaintiff, and that case is ongoing.
What did Lizzo tell Palmer about the allegations?
Lizzo called her dismissal from Daniels’s lawsuit “a big victory.” She vowed that she’s “continuing to fight the other claims until they’re all dismissed — not dropped, but dismissed.”
Addressing the allegations made by the dancers, Lizzo said, “The hardest part about all this is that none of these things were true.” She added, “I was literally living in my dream, and then the tour ended, and three ex-dancers just completely, like, blindsided me with a lawsuit.”
The singer said she’s “very deeply hurt because these were three dancers … that I gave opportunities to. These were people that — I liked them and appreciated them as dancers. … So I was like, ‘What?!’ But then I heard all the other things, like sexual harassment, and I was like … ‘I don’t know what they’re trying to do.’”
Addressing the trip to the Amsterdam burlesque show, Lizzo said it was a “consensual” outing — she had been there before and was going again — and no one else was required to go.
“I went [to Bananenbar] on my own,” the star said on the podcast, adding that she wouldn’t discuss the topic again. “I didn’t take [the dancers] anywhere. They came to the club I was at, and it was no mandatory invitation, and I didn’t even know that those two particular dancers [plaintiffs] were coming. Mind you, only two of them came, even though all three of them said they did, it was only two.”
She said they opted to go and meet the dancers after the performance and claimed there was video and photos of them seemingly having a good time. She also shared the lesson she learned realizing she’s the boss.
“I think that this experience taught me healthy boundaries,” she said, adding, “but to be real with you, it was such a fun night.”
Zambrano told Yahoo in a statement, “There is an utter lack of awareness by Lizzo failing to see how these young women on her team who are just starting their careers would feel pressured to accept an invitation from their global celebrity boss who rarely hangs out with them. There is a power dynamic in the boss-employee context that Lizzo utterly fails to appreciate. We stand by the claims in the lawsuit and are prepared to prove everything in court with Lizzo on the stand under oath before a jury of her peers, not spouting nonsense and lies rationalizing a failure to take accountability on a podcast.”
Lizzo told Palmer she’s learned a lot from the lawsuits.
“This is the part of fame that you unknowingly sign up for,” she said. “People now will just believe anything bad about you because there’s something about being a famous person that it’s almost like people wanna believe that you’re a bad person, and they can’t believe that you’re actually boring and chill and nice.”
What’s next for the singer?
While all of this has kept Lizzo in the background a bit, she clarified that she’s not on a professional hiatus. Before the lawsuits, she was on a career high, winning Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” at the 2023 Grammys. She’s currently working on a new album.
“A lot of the music is me talking things through,” she told Palmer. “I remembered my purpose … I’m putting everything in my art.”
