Lizzo: Lawsuit Alleges ‘Racist And Sexualized’ Tour Environment
Lizzo has been named in a new lawsuit by fashion designer Asha Daniels, who toured with the singer and her team. Daniels alleges that the singer and her team created a “racist and sexualized” environment while on tour.
“I was listening to this Black woman on this huge stage have this message of self-love and caring for others and being empathetic and being strong and standing up for others. And I was witnessing myself, the dancers and the background vocalists and my local team in every city be harassed and bullied regularly,” Daniels told NBC News. According to the outlet, other members of Lizzo’s team have also been named in the lawsuit.
Daniels claims she was fired from the tour after she stood up to wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura, who allegedly called the performers “fat,” “useless,” and “dumb.” The fashion designer also claims that Nomura forced the performers to change in front of a mostly white, male stage crew who would “lewdly gawk” at them.
“Lizzo is the boss so the buck stops with her,” Daniels’ lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement per PEOPLE. “She has created a sexualized and racially charged environment on her tours that her management staff sees as condoning such behavior, and so it continues unchecked. Lizzo certainly knows what’s going on but chooses not to put an end to this disgusting and illegal conduct and participates herself.”
RELATED: Lizzo Sued By Former Dancers For Alleged Sexual Harassment
This lawsuit follows the one three of Lizzo’s former tour dancers filed in August. The dancers claimed that Lizzo was discriminatory against Black dancers. The lawsuit also alleges that she made her dancers attend a live sex show in Amsterdam. The dancers were asked to engage with the cast members to “take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.” Additionally, the dancers allege that Lizzo and others on staff made them uncomfortable about weight gain even though they “never explicitly stated it.”
Lizzo responded to her former tour dancers in an Instagram post. “As an artist, I have always been very passionate about what I do. I take my music and my performances seriously because at the end of the day,” she wrote. “I only want to put out the best art that represents me and my fans. With passion comes hard, work and high standards.”
“Sometimes I have to make hard decisions but it’s never my intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable, or like they aren’t valued as an important part of the team,” she wrote.
Lizzo continued by saying she is “not here to be looked at as a victim.”
The “About Damn Time” singer has not yet publicly spoken out about this new lawsuit.
