Aug. 2 (UPI) — Three dancers who accompanied Lizzo on tour, filed a lawsuit accusing the singer of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
The suit, filed Tuesday, by dancers Noelle Rodriguez, Crystal Williams, and Arianna Davis said they were forced to operate in a hostile work environment by Lizzo, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, as well as the head of her dance team, and her company, Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. who were also accused of religious discrimination and sexual harassment.
“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,” said Ron Zambrano, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs.
According to the lawsuit, Lizzo brought up one of the dancer’s weight gain and pressured dancers to engage in sexually explicit acts.
Davis alleged that Lizzo called attention to her weight following a performance at the South by Southwest music festival and that she and her choreographer later told the dancer that she seemed “less committed” to her role in what was described as a “thinly veiled” concern about her weight.
During a visit to Amsterdam, Davis alleged that her higher-ups pressured her to touch a dancer’s breasts without her consent while at a strip club.
“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,” the lawsuit stated.
The suit alleged that Davis felt pressured to remain at a rehearsal so long that she soiled herself and that she was fired after recording a meeting during which Lizzo yelled expletives at dancers.
Davis said she recorded the meeting because she had an eye condition that prevented her from attending.
The lawsuits allege that the captain of Lizzo’s dance team, Shirlene Quigley, tried to convert dancers to her religion.
Many of the incidents detailed in the complaint took place during the filming of the reality show Lizzo’s Watch Out for Big Grrrls.
“During filming, Ms. Quigley discovered that Ms. Davis was a virgin and Ms. Davis’s virginity became a topic of extreme importance to Ms. Quigley, in the months to follow, Ms. Quigley would routinely bring up Ms. Davis’s virginity in interviews she participated in and later posted to social media, broadcasting an intensely personal detail about Ms. Davis to the world,” the plaintiffs allege in their complaint.
Additionally, the suit alleges that Quigley “made comments deriding people who engaged in pre-marital sex, knowing that some members of the dance cast did not share her views. Ms. Quigley also had a party trick in which she would simulate oral sex on a banana in front of the rest of the dance cast. These instances were always unprompted and made Plaintiffs uncomfortable.”
Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that Quigley made inappropriate comments about sexual fantasies.
According to the complaint, Quigley “singled out Ms. Rodriguez as a ‘non-believer’ and made it her mission to preach at Ms. Rodriguez.”
