- Pop sensation Lizzo is being sued over accusations that she body-shamed and mistreated workers.
- The singer has denied the accusations, but news of the lawsuit has completely startled her fans.
Confusion and shock has this week blown apart Lizzo's online fanbase, which is wrestling with allegations that the singer mistreated workers.
On Tuesday, three of Lizzo's former dancers filed a lawsuit against the singer, accusing her of body-shaming them and sexual harassment.
Among the accusations filed against the singer are that she pressured one dancer to touch a performer's breasts during a night out at a nude club in Amsterdam and commented on her weight.
Lizzo denied the claims in a statement on Thursday, calling them "outrageous" and "false."
Still, since they came to light the singer has lost more than 170,000 followers on Instagram, and across social media some users have been expressing disbelief and confusion as they attempt to reconcile the accusations against the artist with her reputation for promoting body positivity and acceptance.
For many fans, the possibility that Lizzo might do something that contradicts the image they had of her seemed to hit hard. Experts told Insider that the response is a common symptom of the parasocial relationships that fans can develop with celebrities, but a combination of factors may have made Lizzo especially vulnerable to the huge shift from fans.
Despite her fame, Lizzo built an image of likeability and reliability
Lizzo's rise to superstardom was slow, steady, and came with plenty of challenges.
A college dropout, the Detroit-born singer was living out of her car in 2009 having lost her job and apartment.
What followed was a number of years in a local band on the Minneapolis circuit, before she released two solo studio albums, 2013's "Lizzobangers" and 2015's "Big Grrrl Small World," neither of which garnered much attention.
It was 2019 that proved to be her breakthrough year when, thanks to the power of TikTok, her 2017 single "Truth Hurts" went viral and shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. After that, the rest of her back catalog also saw a huge surge in popularity.
Lizzo has since become one of the biggest celebrities of the moment, but also one of the more relatable. She has a hugely visible social media presence which has strengthened connections between her and her fans.
When Lizzo responded with encouraging words to a video of a little girl dancing to her music last year, she was praised for helping to boost the confidence of women of all ages. When an author took to TikTok to ask to borrow Lizzo's Emmy dress last year, she said the singer saw her video and sent it to her, leading to even more appreciation from fans for the singer's acts of kindness.
—FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) November 17, 2022
Lizzo's activism and inclusivity helped fans feel closer to her
Lizzo's songs are undeniably catchy, but it was also her mantra of body positivity, inclusivity, and self-love — showcased through her life-affirming lyrics, her support for the LGBTQ+ community, and her positive body image — that helped her build a large following.
@katieyeyeye Needless to say I am shocked #lizzosbiggrrrls #lizzo #lawsuit #bodypositivity #lizzolawsuit #barbie #plussize ♬ Pink (Bad Day) [From Barbie The Album] - Lizzo
Dr. Niya Pickett Miller, co-author of a book about Lizzo and an assistant communications professor at Samford University in Alabama, told Insider that because of her status as a champion for a number of under-served demographics in the music industry, accusations that she had critiqued the very same type of people she had become an advocate for — like plus-size women — likely felt especially hurtful for her fans.
"That is the very platform that Lizzo has built her foundation on," she said. "And because there are so few representatives or iconic figures that we can point to in a positive way in that sphere, there's an element of fans being let down there."
Fans feel strongly tied to the singer because of her large social media presence
News of the lawsuit against Lizzo is also shocking to fans because of their connection to her online presence, according to Dr. Maureen Coyle, an assistant professor of psychology at Widener University in Pennsylvania.
Coyle, who specializes in research on how technology impacts relationships, told Insider that fans have likely developed a parasocial relationship with the singer because of the way she often responds to or interacts with them on social media.
She described a parasocial relationship as the "perception that they're like a friend. That they're like someone we know."
Some of Lizzo's content on TikTok, such as clips where she appears to be filming without makeup, or videos where she's talking about how much she loves Beyoncé's music, creates an air of "authenticity" that helps fans relate more closely to her, Coyle said.
"The more that people self-disclose, the more that we assume that we're close to them," Coyle said.
@lizzo GRWM: to party in ibiza ✌
♬ original sound - lizzo
Similarly, the more a celebrity interacts with fans, the more reachable they appear, she said, and this is something Lizzo has previously done often through her TikTok account, responding directly to comments and questions from users in videos.
"It creates this sense that you could actually break that barrier between the celebrity world and our world," Coyle said, adding, "It gets us closer to the realm of what friendship really looks like."
Fans' strong response may be because they subconsciously view Lizzo as someone close to them
When controversy around a beloved celebrity emerges, fans might react in similar ways as they would if it were happening to a genuine friend or family member, according to Coyle.
If allegations emerge about a celebrity that seems out of step with a fan's perception of or bond with that celebrity, it triggers a cognitive dissonance, or disconnect, she explained.
To resolve those inconsistencies, fans will typically either insist the allegations are false or abandon their association with that celebrity altogether, Coyle said. "People will go one way or the other depending on what they feel is safer, like mentally safer."
@wildernessexplorersyl #lizzo #lizzolawsuit ♬ Pink (Bad Day) [From Barbie The Album] - Lizzo
Coyle told Insider that when news and rumors about celebrities defy expectations of them from their fanbase, such as in the case of Lizzo, it would be beneficial if fans could mentally place "distance" between themselves and the celebrity, and "not treat it like a personal failing" on their part if they did not anticipate a controversy around a star that they follow.
This would also help fans to reconcile their fondness for a celebrity's messaging with the accusations surrounding them, according to Coyle.
"We could still take some of those positive messages out of what she said and still believe in them," even as controversy emerges, she said.