Lizzo is being candid about how a historic year in her career has turned into one of her most tense.
The “About Damn Time” hitmaker had just come off her first stadium performance last summer when three of her former touring dancers filed a wide-ranging harassment lawsuit against her, her touring company and her dance captain. A month later, fashion designer Asha Daniels, who worked on costumes for dancers on Lizzo's tour, filed her own lawsuit alleging harassment and discrimination.
“I was literally living the dream,” Lizzo said Thursday at the “Baby, this is Keke Palmer” podcast: his first interview since news of the lawsuit broke. Days later, she was “shocked” by a series of accusations that, according to her, “came literally out of nowhere.”
The four-time Grammy winner said she was “very hurt” because the dancers who filed the lawsuit “were people I gave opportunities to,” who she “liked” and “respected.”
Lizzo said her legal team plans to fight until all claims against her are dismissed.
In August 2023, dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez filed a complaint alleging that they were victims of a hostile work environment and various forms of harassment while employed by Lizzo.
“It's really hard to believe that someone who could do almost nothing wrong has done so much wrong,” Williams previously told The Times. “I felt the need to come forward publicly because it's not just her who does things like this. This is normalized in the entertainment industry in general.”
Among the dancers' allegations in the ongoing case is that the Yitty founder “pressured the plaintiffs and all of her employees to attend outings where nudity and sexuality were a focal point,” according to her complaint. Citing specific anecdotes from the burlesque club Crazy Horse Paris and Bananenbar Amsterdam, which calls itself an “erotic bar,” the dancers recalled accepting Lizzo's invitations to interact with the club's nude dancers for fear of losing their jobs.
Lizzo said Thursday that she had simply been enjoying nights out with her team members, with whom she normally maintains friendly relations. Attending the outings was not “obligatory,” he said, and everything that happened on them was “consensual.”
“We met the dancers, we laughed, we talked,” he told Palmer of the night at Crazy Horse Paris. “There are photos and videos of the three girls who are the former dancers, who are suing me, in a video where they are smiling, having a great time. And we all returned to our hotels. And that is one of the complaints of sexual harassment.”
Lizzo said she used to have a hard time understanding why her musical peers kept so much distance from her team, “but now I see why.”
“I think this experience taught me how to set those kinds of boundaries, not only to protect them, but to protect myself,” she said.
As for Davis' claim that Lizzo body-shamed her and implied that her weight gain was a sign she was “less committed” to her work, the “Truth Hurts” singer told Palmer: “Those words never came out of my mouth. “
“More things that simply never happened,” according to Lizzo, include the singer “cracking her knuckles, clenching her fists” and making alleged threats after Rodriguez announced her resignation, as the dancer alleged in the lawsuit.
“This is the part of fame that you sign up for without knowing it,” Lizzo said. “People now will just believe anything bad about you.”
The dancers' attorney, Ron Zambrano, addressed Lizzo's comments Thursday in a statement.
“There is a complete lack of awareness on Lizzo's part in not seeing how these young women on her team who are just starting their careers would feel pressured to accept an invitation from their famous global boss who rarely hangs out with them,” Zambrano said.
“There is a power dynamic in the boss-employee context that Lizzo completely fails to appreciate,” she continued. “We stand behind the claims in the lawsuit and are prepared to prove everything in court with Lizzo on the stand under oath before a jury of her peers, without saying nonsense and lies that rationalize not taking responsibility in a podcast.”
Separately, Zambrano corrected Lizzo's statement on the podcast that Daniels' separate lawsuit had been “dismissed.”
A federal judge ruled earlier this month that Daniels could not sue Lizzo as an individual, but the singer's touring company remains a defendant in the case, the BBC reported. The judge also dismissed several claims related to Daniels' work for Lizzo in Europe, where U.S. labor laws do not apply.
However, “the lawsuit remains very active and has not been dismissed,” Zambrano said in a statement published by People. “The ruling was not due to lack of evidence, but for reasons of procedural competence. “It in no way absolves Lizzo of the egregious allegations that occurred during her tenure.”
The hearing in the dancers' case is scheduled for January 14.
Meanwhile, Lizzo told Palmer that she is still someone who uplifts black women and takes responsibility when she makes mistakes.
“I still believe in women. I still believe in victims. Because this happened to me is not going to change that,” he said. “But people shouldn't be able to just say something about someone and put it in the media and ask for money.”
The singer added that she has been processing the events of the past year while writing her new album, which has yet to be formally announced. “I'm putting everything into art. I always have.”
Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario, August Brown and Stacy Perman and former Times staff writer Carlos De Loera contributed to this report.
