Lizzo Accused Of Weight-Shaming, Sexual Harassment By Backup Dancers

LOS ANGELES — A trio of dancers hired to tour with Lizzo sued the famously body-positive singer Tuesday, alleging they were fat-shamed and endured sexual and religious harassment while working for the hip-hop star.

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez accuse Lizzo and her company of sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, and false imprisonment.

The lawsuit alleges a dancer was pressured to touch a nude performer at a club, shamed for weight gain and forced to endure a combination of sexual and religious harassment by Lizzo's dance team captain, Shirlene Quigley. Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson; her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc.; and Quigley are all named in the suit.

Patch was unable to reach Quigley, Lizzo and Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc., for comment Tuesday.

“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 the dancers' attorney, Ron Zambrano.

The dancers' joined the Grammy-winning artist's crew in 2021 amid production of Lizzo's reality TV show “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.”

According to the lawsuit, that is when the harassment began.

“Ms. Quigley was not only vocal about her religious belief but took every opportunity to proselytize to any and all in her presence regardless of protestations,” according to the complaint. “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 conversations with Ms. Davis. Ms. Quigley even mentioned 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 dancers were told they would be required to participate in a nude photo shoot despite their discomfort, according to the lawsuit.

“Ms. Davis broke down in tears on set while struggling to choose between a once in a lifetime career opportunity and putting her body on display against her will,” the lawsuit states. “This experience foreshadowed the sexually charged and uncomfortable environment Lizzo’s employees would be forced to endure.”

The lawsuit accuses Quigley of deriding those who engaged in premarital sex while discussing her own sexual habits and fantasies in ways that made the dancers under her uncomfortable.

Lizzo badgered a member of her security team to get on stage where she pulled down his pants and hit him with whips, yelling “Take it off,” the suit alleges.

“Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit also contends that the company's mainly white management staff treated the dancers with disrespect, implying that they were lazy or unprofessional.

“Only the dance cast — comprised of full-figured women of color — were ever spoken to in this manner, giving Plaintiffs the impression that these comments were charged with racial and fat-phobic animus,” the complaint alleges.

According to the lawsuit, the dancers' employment ended in dramatic fashion.

According to Zambrano, Davis and Williams were fired while Rodriguez resigned in protest.

“Lizzo aggressively approached Ms. Rodriquez, cracking her knuckles, balling her fists, and exclaiming, ‘You’re lucky. You’re so [expletive] lucky!’ Ms. Rodriguez feared that Lizzo intended to hit her and would have done so if one of the other dancers had not intervened,” the complaint states. “Neither security nor management did anything to de-escalate the situation. As Lizzo left the room, she raised both her middle fingers and yelled, ‘Bye, [expletive]!’”

Davis contends she was forced to stay behind, detained by Lizzo's security detail against her will.