Former backup dancers for Lizzo filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the singer and her production company alleging sexual harassment and a toxic work environment.
In a lawsuit obtained by People magazine and filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against the 35-year-old singer — born Melissa Jefferson — the three backup dancers are suing Lizzo, her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. and Lizzo’s dance team captain, Shirlene Quigley.
The three dancers — Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez — in the suit allege that Lizzo pressured them to engage with nude performers at an Amsterdam club in February of 2023.
Lizzo forced dancers to ‘eat bananas’ from sex workers’ vaginas during Amsterdam trip: bombshell lawsuit https://t.co/i7cAwDeCPz pic.twitter.com/z0an9AKkJI
— New York Post (@nypost) August 1, 2023
“Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers,” the filing states, per Associated Press. During the sexually themed show in Amesterdam’s Red Light District, the “Good as Hell” hitmaker allegedly led a chant pressuring Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women performing at the club, despite the dancer “expressing her desire not to touch the performer,” People noted.
“Finally, the chorus became overwhelming, and a mortified Ms. Davis acquiesced in an attempt to bring an end to the chants,” the complaint states, the outlet noted. “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.”
Another part of the filing reads: “… things quickly got out of hand. Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers,” and interacting with objects “launched” from the performers’ vaginas, Page Six noted.
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The suit also alleged that a member of the “About Damn Time” singer’s security team was reportedly pressured to get on stage and told by the singer to “take it off.”
Davis also alleged that she underwent what was labeled an “excruciating” 12-hour rehearsal, and “fearing the repercussions” of excusing herself to go to the restroom, “had no choice but to ‘soil herself’ on stage,” Page Six noted.
In the suit, Quigley is accused of allegedly pushing her Christian beliefs onto dancers and “oversharing her masturbatory habits and sex life with her husband” with the team, People noted.
Davis and Williams started performing with Lizzo in 2021, and were later fired in April and May. Rodriguez, who was hired in 2021, left earlier this year, People noted.
“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 … absolutely demoralizing,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement.
After the lawsuit surfaced, Lizzo’s former creative director Quinn Whitney Wilson and dancer Courtney Hollinquest posted messages on social media showing support for the dancers, Page Six noted.
“I’m not apart of the lawsuit – but this was very much my experience in my time there…” Hollinquest wrote. “I very much applaud the dancers courage to bring this to light.”
Wilson shared the dancers’ screenshot.
“I haven’t been apart of that world for around three years, for a reason,” the former director wrote. “I very much applaud the dancers courage to bring this to light[,] and I grieve parts of my own experience. I’d appreciate space to understand my feelings.”