Lizzo’s authorized woes proceed. Asha Daniels, who says she labored in Lizzo’s wardrobe division on tour this yr, alleges in a brand new lawsuit that she was typically refused breaks throughout 20-hour shifts, and that she heard racist and fatphobic feedback from members of Lizzo’s staff, TMZ reviews. She says Amanda Nomura, a member of Lizzo’s staff, known as Black ladies on the tour “dumb,” “ineffective,” and “fats,” based on the lawsuit. The grievance follows a lawsuit that three different dancers filed initially of August, alleging they have been sexually harassed and weight-shamed. Pitchfork has emailed Daniels’ lawyer for additional particulars.
Within the lawsuit, Daniels claims Nomura rolled a clothes rack over her ankle, and that she was later reprimanded for carrying Crocs to ease the swelling. She says she raised the problem with Lizzo’s tour supervisor, Carlina Gugliotta, who suggested her to get video proof, however that she felt that will be unethical. She additionally says she wasn’t allowed to put on attractive clothes round Lizzo, claiming Lizzo didn’t need her boyfriend to be round different stunning ladies. Daniels says she was ultimately fired, resulting in ongoing anxiousness, post-traumatic stress dysfunction, migraines, ocular distortions, mind fog, and fatigue.
When reached by Pitchfork, a Lizzo spokesman, Stefan Friedman, acknowledged:
As Lizzo receives a Humanitarian Award tonight from the Black Music Motion Coalition for the unimaginable charitable work she has executed to raise up all individuals, an ambulance-chasing lawyer tries to sully this honor by recruiting somebody to file a bogus, absurd publicity-stunt lawsuit who, look forward to it, by no means really met and even spoke with Lizzo.
We can pay this as a lot consideration because it deserves. None.
Within the earlier lawsuit, filed again in August, Lizzo, her Massive Grrl Massive Touring manufacturing firm, and her dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, have been named as defendants. (Asha Daniels is represented by Neama Rahmani, the lawyer who represents the unique plaintiffs.) It cites situations of racial discrimination and incapacity discrimination, together with an incident in Amsterdam the place Lizzo allegedly pressured a dancer into touching a nude performer’s breasts. On the identical event, Lizzo allegedly urged dancers to “catch dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas and eat bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”
In response to the unique lawsuit, Lizzo mentioned the “false allegations” have been “as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.” She added, partly, “Typically I’ve to make exhausting choices however it’s by no means my intention to make anybody really feel uncomfortable or like they aren’t valued as an essential a part of the staff. I’m not right here to be checked out as a sufferer, however I additionally know that I’m not the villain that individuals and the media have portrayed me to be be these previous few days.”
In response to that assertion, the unique three plaintiffs—Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez—reiterated and elaborated on their claims to CNN. “It took me till really leaving the camp that I found out that all the pieces that went on was dangerous, as a result of I simply chalked it as much as, you recognize, oh, Lizzo is perhaps a diva, or that is simply the trade, that is what we undergo,” Davis mentioned. She added that it was “disheartening” and “extremely irritating” for Lizzo to disclaim, and attempt to discredit, their claims.
In late August, it emerged that 14 Lizzo dancers had settled a separate lawsuit earlier this yr. The dancers, who had appeared within the 2022 documentary Love, Lizzo, raised a dispute involving cost for his or her look. A bunch together with a “Lizzo entity” and co-production firm Boardwalk Photos settled the declare in February for $109,551.