A costume designer accused Lizzo of creating a “sexualized and racially charged” work environment Thursday in new court documents.
Asha Daniels, who designed costumes for the pop star’s 2023 tour, sued for failure to prevent a hostile work environment along with sexual harassment and racial discrimination, according to the lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital.
In the suit, Daniels accused Lizzo’s wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura of bullying and harassment. Nomura allegedly forced performers to change in front of men, who would “lewdly gawk” at them. She was also accused of doing impressions of Black women in front of the performers and referring to them as “fat,” “useless” and “dumb.”
Daniels claimed she was fired after she complained about Nomura’s behavior.
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“Lizzo is the boss, so the buck stops with her. She has created a sexualized and racially charged environment on her tours that her management staff sees as condoning such behavior, and so it continues unchecked,” Daniels’ lawyer, Ronald Zambrano, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Lizzo certainly knows what’s going on but chooses not to put an end to this disgusting and illegal conduct and participates herself.”
A representative for Lizzo called the lawsuit an “absurd publicity stunt” in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
“As Lizzo receives a Humanitarian Award tonight from the Black Music Action Coalition for the incredible charitable work she has done to lift up all people, an ambulance-chasing lawyer tries to sully this honor by recruiting someone to file a bogus, absurd publicity-stunt lawsuit who, wait for it, never actually met or even spoke with Lizzo,” Stefan Friedman said.
“We will pay this as much attention as it deserves. None.”
LIZZO SUED BY FORMER BACKUP DANCERS, ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ‘FAT-PHOBIC’ TREATMENT
Daniels was approached by Lizzo’s team in January and joined in an official capacity in February, when things quickly went downhill, according to the costume designer.
“Plaintiff was looking forward to working with Lizzo and her team because of the values Lizzo portrays in public,” Daniels’ lawsuit states. The costume designer had expected a “healthy, diverse environment with virtues of respect and empowerment of women.
“Unfortunately, the opposite turned out to be true. Plaintiff believes the following experiences of degradation, forced physical labor, denial of medical care, sexual harassment, and racial harassment were allowed to take place by Lizzo’ management without consequence because she is a Black woman.”
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Daniels alleged the experience of working with Lizzo and the musician’s team led her to have “constant panic attacks” and anxiety. Daniels also has experienced “ongoing anxiety and PTSD after the tour; she suffers from migraines and migraine-induced eye twitch and ocular distortions, brain fog, and fatigue.”
Lizzo was previously accused of sexual harassment and “fat-phobic” treatment in a lawsuit filed by her backup dancers.
Three of Lizzo’s dancers claimed they were pressured to touch a nude performer at an Amsterdam nightclub, endure an “excruciating” audition after claims of unprofessionalism and drinking on the job, and that they were prevented from finding work outside the tour, according to documents filed in August and obtained by Fox News Digital.
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“The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly, while privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing,” Zambrano, who also represents the dancers, told Fox News Digital at the time.
Lizzo denied the allegations with a post shared to Instagram.
“These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional,” she wrote. “With passion comes hard work and high standards. Sometimes I have to make hard decisions but it’s never my intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable or like they aren’t valued as an important part of the team.
“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days.”
