A lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles court against Lizzo by her former backup dancers and the allegations were of being sexually harassed and the hostile work environment.
Melissa Viviane Jefferson aka Lizzo, who is a Grammy (Academic awards) winning artist faces a lawsuit filed by her former three backup dancers. The dancers accused Lizzo’s production company (Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc) and Lizzo of sexual harassment and making the work environment hostile.
The lawsuit is filed in County Supreme Court in Los Angeles, and the allegations by the dancers are that Lizzo used to force the backup dancers to engage themselves in nude dance performers at the club which was in Amsterdam. She also body shamed one of the dancers of being overweight and gaining more weight before terminating the dancer from her employment.
The plaintiffs who have filed the lawsuits are Noelle Rodriguez, Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams, they have level various allegations and charges on Lizzo and her production company too. The charges include racial, religious and sexual harassment, assault, false imprisonment and disability discrimination. There is also one court document in which, the captain of Lizzo’s dance team Shirlene Quigley, who has been a judge too on Lizzo’s reality show named, “Lizzo’s Watch Out for The Big Grrrls.” She was accused of forcing the dancer into Christian beliefs and pushing them to be religious.
The Lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, which is filed, the incident took place in Amsterdam. After Lizzo’s concert got over all the crew members and Lizzo herself gathered up and went to a show, which was in the city’s red light district area. During their time in the club Lizzo’s forcefully asked the dancers to touch the nude performers in the club which made them uncomfortable. The court also says that according to the file she disregarded the other backup dancer’s bodily autonomy in front of the people.
Arianna Davis, one of the plaintiffs claimed that she was been pressured to participate in a photoshoot where she was not comfortable in doing that and was scared that if she refuses them, she might lose her job too. Lizzo also body shamed Davis and fired her recently in May as she recorded a meeting with Lizzo where Lizzo sat and gave a note on each dancer’s performances.
The dance team captain, Shirlene Quigley, also forced her religious beliefs on Davis and said that she is a non-believer and should indulge herself in religious activities. She also openly discussed Davis’s personal details that too without her consent. In which the allegedly was mentioning David’s virginity openly in front of the public during interviews, and on social media too.
The backup dancers claim that William and Davis were fired from their jobs whereas Rodriguez chose to resign from the job by choice because of the unhealthy behavior and environment at the workplace which was done by Lizzo and her team.
Therefore, Lizzo has yet not responded on the allegations made against her, as well as her representative have yet not made any official announcement regarding the lawsuit.
