Pop singer Lizzo, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, gained popularity for being a vocal advocate for body positivity and self-love.
However, in a rude awakening the pop star now faces a lawsuit after claims that she weight-shamed her backing dancers.
She is also facing claims of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment in a suit filed by three of her backing dancers.
The singer has not as yet commented on the allegations.
Lizzo is accused of overworking dancers and making the group re-audition in an excruciating 12-hour rehearsal.
Those she was dissatisfied with would be fired and sent back home.
Lizzo is accused of firing a dancer for challenging her claim that the group was drinking before performances.
She is also said to have made a thinly veiled comment relating to a dancer’s weight gain and later fired her for recording a meeting while suffering an eye condition.
She is also accused of coercing a dancer into touching a woman’s breast at a strip club despite the dancer refusing to do so, and that she invited her dancers to a nude cabaret bar without disclosing the specifics of the performance.
The lawsuit against her co-accused Shirlene Quigley reads:
She is accused of trying to convert the dancers to her religion. Accused of scolding the dancers for having pre-marital sex. Accused of unwarrantedly discussing masturbation and sexual fantasies with the group.
The lawsuit says that two dancers were fired earlier this year.
The two former dancers are Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams, who began performing with Lizzo after competing on her Amazon reality show Watch Out For The Big Grrrls in 2021.
The third dancer involved in the lawsuit Noelle Rodriguez was hired the same year after performing in the video for Rumors. She resigned earlier this year.
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