Lizzo at the Grammy Awards in February 2023.Photo:John Shearer/Getty Images
John Shearer/Getty Images
A fashion designer who toured withLizzoearlier this year has filed suit against the singer and members of her team, alleging that while Lizzopreached body positivityand inclusion, her employees were forced to work in a “racist and sexualized” environment.
Asha Daniels filed suit in Los Angeles on Thursday against the star, her production company, her wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura and her tour manager Carlina Gugliotta, alleging, among other things, that they made racist and fat-phobic remarks and denied her medical care, leading to anxiety and PTSD.
“I felt like I was living in a madhouse. It was totally shocking,” Daniels, 35, toldNBC News. “I was listening to this Black woman on this huge stage have this message of self-love and caring for others and being empathetic and being strong and standing up for others. And I was witnessing myself, the dancers and the background vocalists and my local team in every city be harassed and bullied regularly.”
The designer alleges she was “looking forward” to working with the Grammy-winning singer, 35, as she admired her values — but instead faced a rash of alleged harassment from Lizzo’s team.
“Lizzo is the boss so the buck stops with her,” Daniels’ lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement. “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. Lizzo certainly knows what’s going on but chooses not to put an end to this disgusting and illegal conduct and participates herself.”
Lizzo performing at the Grammy Awards in February 2023.Kevin Winter/Getty
In Daniels’ suit, she alleges she joined the tour in February, and often had to work lengthy shifts seven days a week, during which she was allegedly denied breaks. The suit also claims that Daniels was instructed to never interact directly with Lizzo so as not to make her “jealous,” and was told she should not “dress attractively” in front of the “About Damn Time” singer.
The filing claims Daniels witnessed a “culture of racism and bullying,” and that she’d watch as Lizzo’s stage crew, comprised mainly of white men, would “lewdly gawk, sneer and giggle” as the Black dancers hurried through outfit changes with little to no privacy.
Elsewhere in the filing, Daniels claims a manager sent a graphic photo to a group chat with dozens of people, and that the crew “openly” discussed “hiring sex workers for lewd acts, attending sex shows, and buying hard drugs” during a tour stop in Amsterdam.
Daniels says she voiced her concerns to Gugliotta, who was sympathetic, but who also allegedly told her after she was fired that Nomura “wanted [her] gone” for speaking up.
The suit says Daniels “suffered constant anxiety and panic attacks during the tour from the racist and sexual environments,” and “continues to suffer ongoing anxiety and PTSD after the tour,” as well as “migraines and migraine-induced eye twitch and ocular distortions, brain fog and fatigue.”
Lizzo’s attorney Marty Singer has said his client plans to sue for “malicious prosecution.”
source: people.com
