American popstar and body positivity crooner Lizzo has been served a lawsuit by her former backup dancers for alleged weight shaming and sexual harassment.
The Guardian reports that three of her former backup dancers; Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez allege in the lawsuit that the singer created a hostile work environment through sexual, racial, and religious harassment.
They allege that this occurred in several incidents between 2021 and 2023, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. They also allege that the singer pressured staff at afterparties into acts of a sexual nature.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles states that Lizzo allegedly pressured one dancer to touch a nude performer at a club in Amsterdam. It also stated that she also subjected her dancers to an ‘excruciating’ 12-hour audition after falsely accusing them of being drunk on the job.
Her dancers also claimed that Lizzo, a well-known proponent of body positivity and self-love, had reprimanded one dancer for gaining weight recently before berating, then firing, that dancer for filming a meeting.
According to the lawsuit, the singer allegedly “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” during an incident at an Amsterdam club earlier this year. Lizzo is accused of pressuring Davis to touch one performer’s naked breasts and then provoking her when she declined.
The suit reads, “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,”. The singer is also accused of pressuring her security staff to take his clothes off.
She is yet to respond to the heft claims levied against her.
