Grammy Award-winning popstar Lizzo is being sued by three former dancers who performed on tour with her. According to Page Six, the dancers have filed this lawsuit for being allegedly subjected to “sexually denigrating behavior and pressuring them to participate in disturbing sex shows.”
This lawsuit details one night in Amsterdam that took place in February 2023 while Lizzo and her team were on the road with The Special Tour. According to the dancers, Lizzo invited them to a night out, which ended up in the Red Light District – an area known for theaters, clubs, and bars that feature explicit nudity.
The reported paperwork states that “things quickly got out of hand. Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.” The plaintiffs also claim that Lizzo “pressured” them into touching a nude performer’s breasts. The lawsuit goes on to detail a second night that included a nude show, noting that the dancers were “robbed of the choice not to participate” in this outing.
The plaintiffs in this lawsuit are named Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez. For context, Davis and Williams were contestants in the Watch Out for the Big Grrrls reality series that featured plus-size contestants competing to become dancers for Lizzo. In 2022, the show earned Lizzo her first-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Competition Series.
Specific claims from Davis also bring up a moment where she allegedly “had no choice but to ‘soil herself’ on stage during an ‘excruciating’ re-audition, ‘fearing the repercussions’ of excusing herself to go to the restroom.”
Page Six reports that Davis was allegedly fired “on the spot” after Lizzo found out that the dancer had recorded one of their meetings. Rodriguez reportedly resigned from the tour in solidarity with Davis and citing “disrespect” that she experienced from Lizzo. In fact, she claims in the lawsuit that she “feared that Lizzo intended to hit her and would have done so if one of the other dancers had not intervened.”
Another noteworthy piece of context is that The Special Tour just came to an end on Sunday, July 30 in Niigata, Japan – two days prior to this lawsuit hitting the press.