Just a few weeks after some of Lizzo’s former dancers filed a lawsuit against the star over bombshell allegations that they experienced a hostile work environment, religious harassment, disability discrimination, sexual harassment and more while working with her, her current dancers are praising her and celebrating the experience they’ve had so far.
“We have had the time of our lives on The Special Tour,” the dancers shared in a statement on the group’s Instagram page yesterday. “We have been so honored to share the stage with such amazing talent. This tour experience has been beyond just #Special! The commitment to character and culture taking precedence over every movement and moment has been one of the Greatest lessons and Blessings that we could possibly ask for.”
The group went on to celebrate Lizzo for “shattering limitations” and “kicking in the doorway for the Big Grrrl and Big Boiii Dancers to do what we love!”
“You have created a platform where we have been able to parallel our Passion with a purpose! Not only for Us but for Women and All people breaking Barriers,” the statement continued, adding that the group has been on the move, “exploring” different parts of the world.
It’s a far cry from the allegations made against Lizzo at the beginning of the month, which outline being pressured to pose nude, enduring sexually inappropriate behaviour and being body shamed. But it makes sense that the praise is coming from her current dancers.
In the lawsuit, many women who came forward mentioned the pressure to be complacent due to the fear of repercussion that existed while working with Lizzo. All of that begs the question of where this praise is coming from. Is it genuine? Or was this prompted and encouraged by Lizzo’s PR team as a stab at regaining control of the narrative?
Some of the women featured in the lawsuit seemed to express a duplicitous feeling about their experience. Yes, they were part of this amazing, body-positive movement that, for many, was a dream come true and very near and dear to their hearts. But knowing the dark underbelly of that movement would leave them reeling from the abuse they say they suffered, and fundamentally change the nature of what they were experiencing, particularly in retrospect.
When it comes to whether these newly sung praises for Lizzo will actually do anything to reverse the damage that’s been done so far by the countless allegations against her, it’s a tough sell. So many others outside of the dancers that filed the lawsuit came forward with their experiences, and many of them were unpleasant.
The ex-girlfriend of Myke Wright, who Lizzo had been smitten with for the last two years up until deleting all traces of him off her Instagram account in the wake of the allegations, shared a video on TikTok that raised questions about how Myke and Lizzo’s relationship began.
The woman, named Brooklyn Elizabeth Brown, says she dated Myke for 10 years before he left her for the star, despite the fact that she did everything she could to support his dreams up until that point. She says Lizzo knew Myke was in a relationship and still made advances.
Claims like these really bring into question Lizzo’s entire brand. Prior to this, she was celebrated for being a girl’s girl, she was the embodiment of female empowerment and on the surface, she was known for celebrating all bodies. So everything we’ve come to hear about her in the last few weeks is so contradictory to who we thought she was, and she’s feeling the repercussions of it all.
In the last few weeks, she’s been dropped as a contender to perform at the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, and Jay-Z recently cancelled his upcoming Made in America festival, which Lizzo was scheduled to headline.
As her team strategizes on ways to repair her broken image, it’s likely we’ll see more statements of support coming out. But the question is – from who? Most celebrities understand the importance of staying as far away as possible from anything that could be so much as interpreted to be scandalous or grounds for being cancelled. It’s why Jennifer Aniston, without thinking, threw Jamie Foxx under the bus recently over claims of anti-Semitism. It’s why Iggy Azalea was so quick to backtrack on her support for Tory Lanez after penning that awful and error-loaded letter she submitted to a judge on his behalf once it went public.
If Lizzo and her team think that her current dancers penning statements of support for her will make a significant dent in rectifying some of the (alleged) wrongs that have been brought to light, it’s imperative that they reconsider the strategy here. Because the trust we once had in her is gone, and if there’s even the slightest chance of earning any of that back, it’s going to take a lot more than prompted statements to do so.
