Lizzo and her production company are being accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment by a trio of the team’s former dancers, according to a legal complaint filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit, independently viewed by Variety, was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Lizzo (real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson), her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. (BGBT), and Shirlene Quigley, captain of Lizzo’s dance team.
The dancers — plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez — have alleged sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment, among a slew of other charges.
One of the most striking details of the suit alleges dancers were pressured — due to fear of losing their jobs — to touch nude dancers during a live sex show in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, notoriously known for its prostitution, sex theaters, nude bars and clubs.
“The main event of the night was a club called Bananenbar, where patrons are allowed to interact with completely nude performers,” the lawsuit states. “While at Bananenbar, 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. Lizzo then turned her attention to Ms. Davis and began pressuring Ms. Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women performing at the club. Lizzo began leading a chant goading Ms. Davis. Ms. Davis said three times, loud enough for all to hear, ‘I’m good,’ expressing her desire not to touch the performer.”
The complaint continues, “Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed.”
A representative for Lizzo did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Plaintiffs also allege Lizzo again invited them out without telling them they would be attending a nude cabaret bar — “robbing them of the choice not to participate,” the lawsuit states.
Another particular instance accuses Quigley, the dance captain who also doubled as a judge on Lizzo’s Amazon reality show, “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” in 2021, of pushing her Christian beliefs onto dancers. According to the suit, after discovering that Davis was a virgin, Quigley routinely discussed the subject, brought it up in interviews and even posted about it on social media (“broadcasting an intensely personal detail about Ms. Davis to the world”). Quigley allegedly referred to Davis as a “non-believer,” according to the suit, and was quoted saying: “No job and no one will stop me from talking about the Lord.”
Quigley did not immediately return Variety‘s request for comment.
The accusations against Lizzo also include calling attention to one dancer’s weight gain after calling her out for not being committed to her role.
“In professional dance, a dancer’s weight gain is often seen as that dancer getting lazy or worse off as a performer. Lizzo’s and Ms. Scott’s questions about Ms. Davis’s commitment to the tour were thinly veiled concerns about Ms. Davis’s weight gain, which Lizzo had previously called attention to after noticing it at the South by Southwest music festival,” the lawsuit states. “Although Lizzo and Ms. Scott never explicitly stated it, these questions accompanied by Lizzo’s statements made after the South by Southwest music festival gave Ms. Davis the impression that she needed to explain her weight gain and disclose intimate personal details about her life in order to keep her job.”
The complaint additionally states that Davis was fired in May for recording a meeting where Lizzo had given out notes to dancers about their performances. Williams states she was publicly fired due to budget cuts but the suit points out that no one else was fired that day. Before that, Williams claims she had spoken up at a meeting in which Lizzo accused the dancers of drinking before performances.
Rodriguez reportedly complained to the manager about the decision to publicly fire Williams — an intimidation tactic that Lizzo “repeatedly” used with dancers during an April 27 meeting during which she told the team that she had “eyes and ears everywhere,” according to the complaint. Rodriguez resigned as a result of Davis and Willaims’ firings.
In a statement shared with Variety, the dancers’ attorney Ron Zambrano, commented: “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 not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing.”
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