Lizzo’s former dancers react to singer’s statement addressing allegations

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Lizzo’s former employees have reacted to the singer’s denial of the accusations they’ve levelled against her, which include claims of sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work environment.

On Tuesday (1 August), Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez filed a 44-page lawsuit against the “Truth Hurts” singer, her touring company and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley.

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Two days later, the pop star publicly addressed the claims on Instagram, calling them “false”, “outrageous” and “as unbelievable as they sound”.

The three accusers have since reacted to Lizzo’s “disheartening” statement in their first UK interview with Channel 4.

“Initially for me, it just further deepened my disappointment in regards to how I was feeling and how I was treated,” Williams said.

She and Davis began dancing for Lizzo after competing on her Amazon Prime Video reality show, Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, in 2021.

“I think the overall theme in all this is that our experiences were our experiences and our traumas were our traumas. In bringing that forward, it feels like it was disregarded completely,” Williams added. “It feels like we were made out to be putting out false allegations when that’s not the case.

“So yes, it was very disheartening to read and feel overlooked especially when she stands for what she stands for in regards to women’s empowerment – being an advocate for mental health, being an advocate for body positivity – and to just further prove that that’s not the case, because nothing was acknowledged in that statement.”

The lawsuit alleges that, while in Amsterdam, Lizzo pressured Davis into touching a nude performer at a strip club, even though it was against her religious beliefs.

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In an earlier joint appearance with Williams on CBS News, Davis specifically addressed the Amsterdam claims.

“I did not ask for it. I said no multiple times,” Davis said.

She said that after facing intense pressure from Lizzo, she “briefly touched” the performer. “I was very, very mortified, everyone burst into laughter,” she said.

Davis also alleges that Lizzo and her choreographer made “thinly veiled” comments about her weight.

She told NBC that the comments were “never blatant fatphobia”.

“It was very nuanced and very underlying underneath all the other issues that were going on,” Davis explained. “I just had this feeling that they had a problem with the way I was gaining weight and looking different and that I wasn’t ‘the same’ as when they first cast me.”

Other claims in the lawsuit, not all of which are brought against each defendant, include assault, racial and religious harassment, fat-shaming, disability discrimination, and false imprisonment.

Following public news of the lawsuit, some other previous collaborators with the Grammy winner have claimed to have had negative experiences while working together.

Lizzo’s former creative director, Quinn Wilson, “echoed” the words of the accusers in an Instagram story, while the filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison described the singer as “arrogant, unkind and cruel”.