A lawsuit has been filed against famous singer Lizzo, best known for songs like Truth Hurts, About Damn Time, and Good As Hell. 

Lizzo – or Melissa Viviane Jefferson as per her given name – is being sued by three of her former dancers, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, due to several instances wherein both she and members of her team made them feel uncomfortable. 

She is being sued on the grounds of sexual, religious, and racial harassment, assault, false imprisonment, as well as disability discrimination. The dancers stated that these events happened throughout 2021 up until 2023.

In particular, a legal complaint was filed against Lizzo as well as her production company named Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc., and the captain of the dance team of her performance, a 39-year-old woman named Shirlene Quigley.

The allegations

Davis states that they felt pressured by Lizzo to touch a nude performer while they were at a club in Amsterdam. She had done so by chanting continuously for Davis to touch a nude woman’s breast even though she felt uncomfortable with doing so. 

Lizzo then urged one of the members of her security staff to get on stage, then yelling at him to take his clothes off after doing so.

The dancers also said that they had to re-audition for Lizzo after they’d been falsely accused of drinking on the job, which then led to a rehearsal that lasted about 12 hours. The dancers that Lizzo felt gave less than notable performances were aptly fired.

There was also another time wherein Lizzo pointed out the weight gain of Davis; she insulted the member, saying that this weight gain was caused by a lack of commitment to her role as a dancer and then, later on, fired her because she recorded one of her meetings. 

Davis explained that she’d only recorded the meeting so she could have notes for their following performance, but Lizzo terminated her anyway because she did not believe the dancer’s words. Rodriguez tried to confront Lizzo about how she fired the two dancers because she felt it could have been done in private instead of out for everyone else to see, and this led to the singer swearing at and threatening Rodriguez. She then called her a slur and flipped her the bird as she turned to leave the room.

Davis was also forced to stay in a room until after she met with Lizzo so that her staff could search her phone to see if the video recording was still there.

This was especially disappointing to fans, considering that Lizzo has largely built her brand in relation to the concept of self-love and body positivity, so this action has been perceived by many to be rather out-of-character for the singer.

Quigley, on the other hand, has been accused of not respecting the religious beliefs of others, given that she has been pushing her Christian beliefs onto her dancers by calling Davis a non-believer and telling them that nothing and no one could stop her from talking about the Lord.

Aside from this, the dancers also stated that Quigley would vocalize her sexual fantasies to the dancers. Once, she made gestures simulating oral sex toward them and on another occasion, she started to talk about the virginity of one of the dancers to anyone who would listen. 

Though it has not been confirmed by Lizzo or Quigley, the dancers state that the singer was well aware of her dance captain’s actions.

And the list doesn’t just stop at harassment; the dancers also complained about the financial aspect of their previous occupation. When the dancers asked for compensation for their downtime at 50% of the weekly pay that they usually get, they were told by one of Lizzo’s accountants that it was unacceptable to ask for so – even that they were being disrespectful. 

They were then offered only 25% of what they were asking for.

Not the first time?

Lizzo rose to fame when artist Prince took a liking to her. He co-signed her music, and then later asked her to sing on his song Boy Trouble in 2014. And then when she released Truth Hurts back in 2017, she quickly shot up to stardom. 

Outside of her music, she’s been beloved by the public because of the online persona she portrays of always celebrating body positivity and loving yourself no matter what. She even recently released a clothing brand, Yitty, that prides itself on selling shapewear that’s meant for everyone given its inclusivity for size.

Fans are particularly disappointed in the allegations that she’d weight-shamed Davis, stating that this went against everything they thought the singer stood for.

Others say that they aren’t surprised by her behavior of discrimination and harassment – in fact, they feel that it’s been a long time coming.

“TBH, I’m not surprised,” says Twitter user Meowry Jane.

“She has a long history of bullying that she tried to disguise by being empowered.”

Another Twitter user also writes: “She has been making sexual comments for a long time, but everyone took it as a joke.”

One such incident is the past “flirtationship” she shared with Chris Evans, which she publicized online by asking Evans to marry her after he left a comment on one of her videos. 

She then said that she’d sent him a drunk message on Instagram, and then in August 2021, joked that she was pregnant with the man’s baby.  

She also spewed out some rather lewd comments about the actor during an interview with Andy Cohen, imagining Evans naked, with her doing body shots off of his chest. 

Though Evans seemed to take all of these moments in good stride, some wonder if things would have gone the same way had the roles between them been reversed.

“It was so shocking, and people were applauding her,” said user Cyborg Défectueux on Twitter.

“Like yeah, sis, shoot your shot, but that’s now how you respectfully shoot your shot, and she just kept going at it, she wouldn’t stop.” 

Another wrote on Twitter: “Lizzo twerking in a thong at a basketball game in front of who knows how many children isn’t okay; you can be you and be authentic, but show some discretion.”

Some also brought attention back to when Lizzo started twerking to her song Juice during her performance at a Lakers game while wearing a thong and fishnet stockings, stating that her actions were inappropriate because there were kids at the venue. 

To this, one Twitter user wrote that her actions were a means of looking for attention and that she’d come into an arena filled with kids and families dressed in inappropriate attire. 

Fans of Niall Horan, Harry Styles, and BTS also commented about the allegations of harassment, stating that the comments she’d made have not been forgotten. 

Back when they were both on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Lizzo made jokes about the singer giving her his “one erection.” Following this, she also tweeted that she was a “Horandog.”

“There’s only 1D I want, honey,” her tweet read.

A video from one of her past interviews also resurfaced wherein she was reacting to a music video from BTS. When she first started praising them, her comments quickly started to turn sexual.

“If I could collaborate with BTS, that sounds fun, [but] I don’t know if I can make it through those studio sessions without having sex with all of them,” she’d joked, also telling the interviewees to turn the song off before she got pregnant.

And following her collaboration at the Brit Awards with Harry Styles, Lizzo then went on the radio show KISS Breakfast’s Tom & Daisy, wherein she made a number of sexual remarks about the singer, alluding to the fact that they had sex with one another and then later saying that she was just kidding.

Mixed feelings

Since the release of the news, many have moved to support the dancers in their fight for compensation. Some people that used to look up to the singer have also shown sadness over her actions. 

“This is disgusting; for Lizzo to be a part of women empowering an advocate for plus-size women, this puts a bad taste in my mouth,” says one tweet.

“I feel like a lot of these celebrities are fake and don’t practice what they preach.”

There are others though that continue to show support for the singer, stating that they don’t believe the allegations that have come out and that they plan to stand with her until said allegations have been proven.

Lizzo has not yet made any comments following the release of this lawsuit. Quigley has since posted an Instagram story ignoring the allegations and instead praising God and saying only good things about the tour.

“All things work together for those that are called according to his purpose,” she’d said with a wide smile. 

She continues to say that she’s happy to have been a part of Lizzo’s most recent tour, calling it an amazing experience wherein she was surrounded by amazing people.