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Lizzo is known as a champion of body positivity, but now she’s being forced to face the music regarding accusations made of body shaming, sexual harassment, and creating a toxic work environment in a new lawsuit by three former dancers.
Two of the women, Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams, are speaking out to “Extra” alongside their attorney about the lawsuit.
Arianna shared, “For her to, like, be a predator in a way of, like, emotionally abusing us is just really disheartening.”
Getting candid about her experience, Davis said, “I have never felt more… conscious of my body than on this job. I’ve never lost myself more than on this job. I felt nothing but unsafe… I think she equates my weight gain to laziness and, you know, not being as good as I used to.”
Arianna and Crystal met the “About Damn Time” singer while competing on “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” a reality dance show, and were later picked to go on tour with her.
Crystal said, “Once the cameras went off and the show was already out and got three Emmys and
everything, once the dust kind of settled, reality kind of set in and we were, unfortunately, it seemed like we were just going down this downward spiral.”
More drama went down when the dancers partied at a strip club in Amsterdam while on tour. It was there they claim that Lizzo pressured them to touch the club’s naked performers. Arianna said, “It’s a very sexually charged environment… She was inviting people to come up and touch the nude performers and I guess it was my turn and she singled me out and was like, ‘Hey, Ari, it’s your turn!’ and I said no a few times and she started a chant: ‘Ari! Ari!’”
She went on, “Management of Lizzo’s team, they started spreading lies about us to Lizzo, telling
her that, you know, we’re drinking on the job — obviously none of these were true.”
The dancers are also suing Lizzo’s production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, and her reality show’s dance captain Shirlene Quigley, whom they accuse of forcing her Christian religious beliefs upon them.
Their lawyer Ron Zambrano said, “You can’t discriminate against your employees based on their religion. You can’t have a sexually charged environment where people that participate are rewarded and those who don’t, like Crystal and Arianna, are punished and retaliated against.”
“Extra” reached out to Lizzo for comment, but have not received a response.