Lizzo sued by 3 former dancers for alleged sexual harassment and weight shaming
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Dave Simpson/WireImage / Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Three former dancers of Lizzo have accused the popular singer of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, as per a lawsuit filed on Tuesday (1 August).
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by NBC News, also alleges that she pressured one of them to touch a nude performer at a club in Amsterdam.
Lizzo - a performer known for embracing body positivity and confidence - is also accused of subjecting the group of dancers to an 'excruciating' audition after apparently levelling false accusations they were drinking on the job.
The lawsuit also says that Lizzo called attention to one dancer's weight gain, later firing this individual after they recorded a meeting as a result of a health condition.
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The captain of Lizzo’s dance team, Shirlene Quigley, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit obtained by NBC in a series of allegations.
Quigley is said to have been proselytizing to other performers and deriding those who had premarital sex, while also sharing sexual fantasies.
These included simulating oral sex and publicly discussing the virginity of one of the plaintiffs in the case.
Lawyer Ron Zambrano made it clear it is unknown if Lizzo was aware of the allegations against her dance captain, though the plaintiffs believe the singer was aware of complaints against herself.
The suit also brought allegations of a hostile work environment, religious and racial harassment and false imprisonment, but not every claim was brought against each defendant.
Lizzo's production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, were also named as a defendant in the suit.
Zambrano said in a statement to NBC News: "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."
NBC's report goes into further depth surrounding some of the allegations, including the one that is claimed to have taken place in an Amsterdam nightclub.
At the strip club Bananenbar, Lizzo 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', as per the suit.
Just a week later in Paris, Lizzo is claimed to have invited the dancers to a club so 'they would be able to learn something or be inspired by the performance'.
But the suit says 'Lizzo failed to mention when inviting the dancers to this performance was that it was a nude cabaret bar'.
UNILAD has reached out to Lizzo's representatives and Shirlene Quigley for comment.