Just hours before Lizzo was due to be honoured for her philanthropic efforts and dedication to social justice, she found herself facing yet another lawsuit. This legal action, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination and the creation of a hostile work environment by the singer and individuals associated with her in The Special Tour. The accuser, clothing designer Asha Daniels, who created custom pieces for Lizzo’s dancers, named several defendants, including Lizzo herself, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc., wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura and tour manager Carlina Gugliotta.
According to information from Billboard, the lawsuit filed by Daniels sheds light on her experiences after being hired to work on the singer’s world tour in February 2023. She alleges that she was quickly exposed to a “culture of racism and bullying,” leaving her with anxiety and panic attacks. She further claimed that Lizzo’s dancers were forced to change in “small, tight changing areas, with little to no privacy.”
Further, Asha Daniels also alleged that some male members of the stage crew were behaving weirdly by sneaking and making disrespectful remarks while the dancers were changing. When Daniels raised her concerns with Amanda, the wardrobe manager dismissed her claims and advised her not to inform anyone.
A day before filing the lawsuit against Lizzo and her team members, in a conversation with NBC News, the fashion designer said, “I felt like I was living in a madhouse. It was totally shocking. I was listening to this Black woman on this huge stage have this message of self-love and caring for others and being empathetic and being strong and standing up for others. And I was witnessing myself, the dancers and the background vocalists and my local team in every city be harassed and bullied regularly.”
In response to the lawsuit, Asha Daniels’ lawyer, Ron Zambrano, stated, “Lizzo is the boss, so the buck stops with her.” Meanwhile, Stefan Friedman, a spokesperson for the singer released a statement on Thursday, suggesting that Zambrano’s actions were an attempt to tarnish the award Lizzo was scheduled to receive that same evening, the Black Music Action Coalition’s Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award.
Stefan further accused Zambrano of filing a baseless and sensationalized lawsuit as a publicity stunt. The spokesperson went further and claimed that Asha Daniels had never actually met or spoken with Lizzo.
Meanwhile, three dancers, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, previously made similar claims when they filed a lawsuit in August.
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