Lizzo and some of her former dancers have been going back and forth over the past couple days. The dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo, alleging sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. After they spoke about it on Today, Lizzo shared a written response in which she addressed the “false allegations” and “sensationalized stories.” Since then, the dancers — Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez — have visited CNN to offer a rebuttal (as Entertainment Weekly notes).
Davis said, “Me, personally, looking at the response from Lizzo was so disheartening because she was there. She was there, and to fix your hand, to write on a piece of paper that you discredit everything we’re saying, is incredibly frustrating.”
Rodriguez also said of Lizzo allegedly threatening physical violence against her, “The facts of that were that she actually balled up her firsts like this to me. She started cracking her knuckles, and she was like, ‘You’re so effing lucky that basically I’m not going to hit you.’ I was in shock watching her do that and cracking her knuckles and acting as if she was going to come at me.”
They also said in a joint statement through their attorney, “Lizzo has failed her own brand and has let down her fans. Her denial of this reprehensible behavior only adds to our clients’ emotional distress. The dismissive comments and utter lack of empathy are quite telling about her character and only serve to minimize the trauma she has caused the plaintiffs and other employees who have now come forward sharing their own negative experiences. While Lizzo notes it was never her intention ‘to make anyone feel uncomfortable,’ that is exactly what she did to the point of demoralizing her dancers and flagrantly violating the law.”
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.