Former Employees Speak Out After Horrific Claims In Lizzo Lawsuit Involving Bananas

The singer is being sued for harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

Three of Lizzo's former backup dancers filed a scathing lawsuit against the "About Damn Time" singer yesterday, claiming that she's an abusive boss who creates a hostile work environment. While there are allegations of sexual harassment and weight-shaming, none were quite as shocking as...the bananas.

Unless you've already seen the banana news, you're probably thinking, WTF? Bananas?

Let me explain. According to the plaintiffs, while visiting an Amsterdam strip club called Bananenbar, Lizzo reportedly "began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers' vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers' vaginas."

While the afterparties were "routine" and "non-mandatory" for her staff to attend, those who participated were favored and even felt a sense of greater job security, according to NBC News.

During the Banana-gate outing, Lizzo reportedly peer-pressured one plaintiff, Arianna Davis, to "touch the breasts of one of the nude women." When Davis declined, the singer lead a chant that only "grew louder and more strident" as a "visibly uncomfortable" Davis continued to refuse.

"Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed,” the suit says.

The former backup dancers claimed Lizzo created a hostile working environment. Aside from countless allegations of sexual harassment, the dancers also said that she created an "excruciating" audition process, made false allegations that they were drinking on the job, and ridiculed them over their weight.

Despite Lizzo's reputation for body positivity—which includes a size-inclusive shape wear line—she reportedly called out one dancer's weight gain before berating and firing that same individual for missing a meeting due to a health condition.

Just hours after the lawsuit dropped, Lizzo's former creative director, Quinn Whitney Wilson, and fellow dancer, Courtney Hollinquest—both of whom were not listed in the lawsuit—showed their support for the plantiffs.

"For clarification, I’m not apart of the lawsuit—but this was very much my experience in my time there," Hollinquest wrote on Instagram. “Big shoutout to the dancers who had the courage to bring this to light.”

Wilson reshared Hollinquest's statement, adding, "I haven’t been apart of that world for around three years, for a reason. I very much applaud the dancers courage to bring this to light. and I grieve parts of my own experience."

On Thursday morning, Lizzo took to Instagram to speak out on the controversy, claiming that she's "not here to be looked at as a victim."

"I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days," Lizzo wrote on the social media platform. "I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not."

She went on to write, "With passion comes hard work and high standards. Sometimes I have to make hard decisions but it's never my intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable or like they aren't valued as an important part of the team."

Megan Schaltegger is an NYC-based writer. She loves strong coffee, eating her way through the Manhattan food scene, and her dog, Murray. She promises not to talk about herself in third person IRL.

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