Lizzo has been sued again by for allegedly fostering a hostile work environment. This suit comes from a stylist who claims she was subjected to a toxic culture while on tour with Lizzo.
Stylist claims the work environment was not safe
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court (via The Hollywood Reporter). It accuses Lizzo and supervisors of her Big Grrl Big Touring of sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination, retaliation and assault. The suit comes as Lizzo already faced other allegations from a variety of former tour dancers who sued Lizzo earlier this year.
The woman suing Lizzo, Asha Daniels — who worked as a stylist and designed pieces for the dancers on tour — said that the tour had an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture,” where a variety of alleged misconduct took place, most of which was encouraged by Lizzo and the wardrobe manager on tour, Amanda Nomura, according to Daniels.
“There was a group chat of over 30+ people from the BGBT team, which included Lizzo tour management and Plaintiff,” the complaint states. “In the group message, a backstage manager sent a photo graphically depicting male genitalia.”
Daniels went on to claim that when the tour got to Amsterdam, she witnessed Nomura and other supervisors’ for the tour talking about “hiring sex workers for lewd acts, attending sex shows, and buying hard drugs.” She also claims that she was one of several people pressured to join in on the activities.
This lawsuit seems to corroborate what previous lawsuits against Lizzo have stated. Previously, another lawsuit alleged that Lizzo pressured various tour dancers into engaging with nude performers.
Daniels’ lawsuit also points to various moments of verbal harassment at the hands of Nomura, to which Daniels alleges that Lizzo and her management team were aware of. “On several occasions, Nomura made statements and/or took physical actions to threaten Plaintiff and the entire crew: (1) she threatened Plaintiff and others that she would “kill a bitch” and “stab a bitch” when she could not find her medication,” reads the statement. “(2) she shoved a crew member in retaliation for revealing she was threatening to quit. (3) Nomura snatched food out of a local worker’s hand for merely attempting to take an assigned break.”
Daniels also details what the work days for herself looked like, noting that she would frequently work 20 hours a day and was “frequently denied breaks” by Nomura. One specific instant claims that Nomura — who Daniels says “monitored and policed” workers — wouldn’t let her wear orthopedic shoes for her rolled ankle.
“Not only was Plaintiff denied medical treatment (on this occasion and others) but was also forced to be on her feet the majority of the day and denied any rest – even after rolling her ankle,” the complaint states.
Finally, Daniels also claimed racial discrimination occurred during her time on the tour. Daniels alleges that “black dancers were being mocked, objectified, and denied accommodations” to tour manager Carlina Gugliotta. Daniels claims that she made complaints about this that were seemingly ignored, before she was fired prior to her contract expiring.