Lizzo is finally speaking up about the sexual harassment allegations levied against her. At the peak of her career, three former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against the singer and her production company. They made allegations of harassment, a hostile work environment, disability discrimination, and assault, amongst others. With the lawsuit now dismissed more than a year later, Lizzo is telling her side of the story.
During a recent appearance on Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, she broke her silence on the scandal, saying she never saw it coming. “I was literally living in my dream, and then the tour ended, and three ex-dancers just completely, like, blindsided me with a lawsuit,” she shared. The Juice songstress admitted she felt “very deeply hurt” because the allegations came from ex-dancers who didn’t complete the tour with her.
Lizzo then cleared the air about a particular damaging accusation made by one of the plaintiffs. A part of the lawsuit alleged that Lizzo urged the dancers to attend a sex show in Amsterdam’s famous red light district and pressured them to engage in lewd acts with the performers. The plaintiffs claimed the fear of losing their jobs made them comply with NSFW acts. “Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas,” an excerpt of the lawsuit read, per Billboard.
However, the four-time Grammy winner insists the claims are false, telling host Keke Palmer, she would only address it once. “I went [to Bananenbar] on my own because I was in Amsterdam… I didn’t take [the dancers, the plaintiffs] anywhere. They came to the club I was at, and it was no mandatory invitation,” she began.
Lizzo Reveals ‘Hardest Part’ Of Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Scandal
The Truth Hurts singer clarified that only two dancers came to the club as opposed to three as the filing claims. She described the show as a “fun environment,” confirming it was “a “very consensual” experience as they mingled with the performers. However, host Keke Palmer countered, asking Lizzo, “Do you feel looking back on the situation that maybe your casual personality could have been misconstrued as ‘I gotta do this because this is my boss?‘” The 36-year-old then answered:
“I think that this experience taught me healthy boundaries, but to be real with you, it was such a fun night… I think there’s a time where there’s a difference between having boundaries and professional boundaries.”
Lizzo further declared, “Let’s be clear: I did nothing wrong.” Although the singer maintains she has no regret, she confessed to feeling hurt by the accusations. “The hardest part about all this is that none of these things were true,” she explained. “These were people I liked and appreciated as dancers, respected them as dancers. So I was like, ‘What?!’“
The singer, who has since returned to the spotlight with a shocking weight loss transformation, expressed relief over the dismissal. “We’re continuing to fight the other claims until they’re all dismissed — not dropped, but dismissed,” Lizzo concluded. “It is a big victory.”
