Lizzo may have received a humanitarian award from the Black Music Action Coalition on Thursday—a moment that seems tone deaf and misguided by all involved—but that wasn’t the headline grabbing part of her day. The Grammy winner was named in yet another lawsuit, once again being accused of fostering a hostile workplace.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Asha Daniels, a wardrobe stylist who worked with the dancers, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday accusing “Lizzo and supervisors of Big Grrl Big Touring of sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination, retaliation and assault.” In the suit, Daniels claims “she was subjected to a ‘culture of racism and bullying’” and that Lizzo, along with wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura, encouraged an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture.”
Daniels also detailed “aggressive verbal harassment” from Nomura, something she says Lizzo and her management team knew about. She also claimed she was “frequently denied breaks” and described an experience where, after spraining her ankle, she was “denied medical treatment…but was also forced to be on her feet the majority of the day and denied any rest.”
In February, Daniels told tour manager Carlina Gugliotta that there was “‘widespread racial and sexual harassment’ in which ‘Black dancers were being mocked, objectified, and denied accommodations.’” The lawsuit claims she was “allegedly ignored” and fired before her contract was up. The suit has been filed against Lizzo, Nomura, Gugliotta and Big Grrrls Big Touring Inc.
The complaint echoes some of the same issues and situations that were raised in an earlier lawsuit filed by Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, three of Lizzo’s dancers. In August, they filed a suit against the singer, Big Grrls Big Touring Inc. and dance captain Shirlene Quigley, accusing them of “sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment, among other things.”
Lizzo has denied the allegations, with her representatives calling this lawsuit an “absurd publicity stunt.” However, when multiple people who worked on the tour come forward with the same issues and statements, it becomes clear that somewhere along the way things went off the rails. You’re the boss and you set the tone for how your staff is treated. If you don’t do anything to address or change the broken culture, all of this is on you, and no amount of catchy singles and TikTok dances is going to cover that up. As someone who truly loved and supported every step of Lizzo’s journey, this has been deeply disappointing.
I have been all in on Lizzo since I heard “Soulmate” and felt like she was speaking directly to me. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know you can’t get invested in famous figures, because the majority of the time they will let you down. As a Black woman who confidently embraces her body image, and unapologetically told the world she didn’t care what they said about her, Lizzo slipped past my professional defenses. Even though I worked through my weight issues years ago, it was still a relief to finally have someone advocating for big girls, and not being nice about it. It was like a lightning bolt of inspiration hit my life. She made me feel seen and respected in a way that has never happened in my entire life.
As disappointed as I am that these accusations could be true, I feel like we also need to acknowledge that Lizzo’s name may be tainted, but that doesn’t mean her message is. Even amid the possibility that she was body shaming her own dancers, we shouldn’t lose sight of the idea that everyone, no matter their size, deserves a certain level of respect. Just because I’m a Black woman who isn’t an “ideal body type” doesn’t mean you get to openly call me names and make me feel worthless. Whether these claims are true or not, I’m still going to believe in the message that “I’m my own soulmate/I know how to love me/I know that I’m always gonna hold me down.”