- Dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez are suing Lizzo.
- They told Insider they want up-and-coming dancers to know how to spot unacceptable behavior.
For up-and-coming dancers, landing a gig with a star can be a dream come true.
It was for Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez — the three dancers who are now suing Lizzo over what they say was a toxic and inappropriate workplace.
The women — two of whom got the job with Lizzo after auditioning on her reality show "Watch Out for the Big Grrrls" — say they want up and coming performers to take note from their lawsuit that they should not stand for being mistreated in exchange for a prestigious career.
"I really want this to be a wake-up call, for artists and upcoming dancers, to prevent this from happening," Davis told Insider. "They're getting ready to film season two. I would never want for them to have the experience I had."
An attorney for Lizzo and her representative didn't respond to Insider's requests for comment after the lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, and the star didn't comment publicly about the dancers' accusations until after this story was first published.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Lizzo called the dancers' allegations "outrageous" and "false."
The dancers say one day in Montreal was a breaking point
Rodriguez didn't meet Lizzo through her show, and already had an established career in the industry, dancing for artists like Beyoncé and Megan thee Stallion. She was hired to perform in Lizzo's "Rumors" music video and stayed on the team.
She told Insider she quit working for Lizzo in May after she saw her lash out at Davis in front of other dancers, leaving some of them in tears. The lawsuit alleges Lizzo fired Davis that day in Montreal, about a week or so after the management team fired Williams.
The women say in their suit that Lizzo charged after Davis and Rodriguez at a meeting that day, cracking her knuckles and balling up her fists. Rodriguez said she thought Lizzo was about to hit her.
"I felt, being a more seasoned dancer, this the kind of responsibility to just show other people that this kind of treatment is not OK," Rodriguez said, of quitting and later filing the lawsuit.
Davis, Williams, and Rodriguez filed the lawsuit against Lizzo, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc, and and Lizzo's dance captain Shirlene Quigley in California Superior Court on Tuesday.
The three dancers have accused Lizzo and her management team of a list of abuses, including sexual and racial harassment, fat shaming, and — in one case — false imprisonment.
In the lawsuit, Davis alleged she was forcefully held at the meeting while Lizzo's team searched through her phone before she left.
"She humiliated me in front of the entire dance cast," Davis told Insider. "It was really a scary experience. I was trying to keep my cool."
'This kind of treatment and disrespect is not OK'
A month earlier, when Lizzo held a meeting to criticize the dancers for their recent performances, the women said, she made them "re-audition," spending 12 hours rehearsing without a break.
Davis said she was so afraid of losing her job that she lost control of her bladder on stage and continued to dance with wet clothes.
"Even in light of what's happening with the SAG-AFTRA strike, the whole entire entertainment industry — the workers, the dancers, and the writers — we're all being done a disservice," Davis said. "We're always told to be grateful because everyone is very replaceable."
The women said there's a limit to the kind of behavior that performers should put up with before standing up for themselves.
"Every single dancer in this industry has a horror story about how we were treated in their job," Davis said.
"You can speak up and share that this kind of treatment and disrespect is not OK," Rodriguez added.
Editor's note August 3, 2023 [12 p.m.]: This story has been updated to include Lizzo's comments on the lawsuit, which she made after the story was initially published.