CNN
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Lizzo has been sued by three former dancers who claim they were subjected to a hostile work environment and harassment while they were members of the Grammy-winner’s dance team.
The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday and obtained by CNN through an attorney for the plaintiffs, also names her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. (BGBT) and a person described as “dance cast captain” as defendants in the suit.
Among the claims outlined in the suit, one of the three plaintiffs said she was encouraged by the singer to “take turns touching the nude performers” while out at a club in Amsterdam’s Red Light District while on tour in February.
Fearing retaliation, the suit states the plaintiff eventually “acquiesced” despite having expressed numerous times she had no desire to touch the performers.
Another plaintiff claims that her commitment to her role on the dance team was questioned by the singer, who expressed “thinly veiled” concerns about the plaintiff’s “weight gain,” according to the lawsuit, resulting in the plaintiff feeling pressured to “explain her weight gain and disclose intimate personal details about her life in order to keep her job.”
Other claims are made throughout the complaint that allege people employed by Lizzo subjected the plaintiffs to racial and religious discrimination, including an allegation that an accountant from BGBT’s primarily White management team discriminated against the Black dancers by scolding them for allegedly “unacceptable and disrespectful” behavior while on tour. The suit alleges that this comment from the the accountant was “charged with “racial and fat-phobic animus.”
Lizzo is known for her uplifting messages and advocacy for body positivity as an integral part of her work.
CNN has reached out to a representative for Lizzo and Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. seeking comment on the complaint.
