Lizzo, the pop star who has made body positivity an anthem with hits like "Good As Hell" and "Juice," is celebrating a legal victory after a judge dismissed allegations of fat-shaming from a 2023 lawsuit filed by three of her former dancers. The singer marked the development with a video statement posted to her Instagram and TikTok feeds, where she declared, "There was no evidence that I fired them because they gained weight. They were fired for taking a private recording of me without my consent and sending it off to ex-employees."
While the specific allegations of fat-shaming have been dropped, the case against Lizzo and her production company will continue over claims that three dancers were subjected to sexual harassment. The dancers, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, allege they were pressured into attending sex shows and interacting with nude performers between 2021 and 2023.
Among the claims against Lizzo - whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson - is that she "pressured Ms. Davis to touch the breasts" of a dancer in a nightclub in Amsterdam. Despite initially resisting, Ms. Davis eventually acquiesced, "fearing it may harm her future on the team," according to court documents. Other incidents cited in the case include the claim that dancers were asked to eat fruit from the naked bodies of sex club workers.
Lizzo's lawyers appealed the decision to let those claims go to trial, arguing that group outings were part of the singer's creative process and thus should be shielded by First Amendment free speech protections. In response, a lawyer for the dancers rejected this claim, saying it was not enough to say the sex shows had inspired Lizzo's own performances. "Under that standard," wrote Ari Stiller, "Johnny Cash could shoot 'a man in Reno just to watch him die' and claim protection if he hoped it would inspire his performance."
Stiller urged the court to allow the claims to proceed to trial, while Lizzo's attorney, Melissa Glass, claimed that Stiller's brief "regurgitates the false accusations from their [original] complaint." Glass stated in a statement to Billboard magazine, "As was true two years ago, the dancers cannot find a single person to corroborate their meritless claims. In contrast, 18 witnesses who worked with Lizzo on the Special tour submitted sworn statements refuting the claims made by Davis, Williams, and Rodriguez. We look forward to the Court of Appeals ruling on this matter."
Lizzo has adamantly denied the allegations against her. "I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not," she said when the claims first emerged in 2023. In her latest statement, the singer added that the fat-shaming allegations had "haunted" her for the last two years, describing it as "devastating to suffer through this in silence." She also stressed that she has "only encouraged and supported people with bigger bodies and shared my platform with them."
Thanking her lawyers, Lizzo said she intended to keep fighting the lawsuit. "I am not settling," she declared. "I will be fighting every single claim until the truth is out."
