Lizzo sued again by stylist for racism, body shaming, creating a hostile work environment

Los Angeles: Singer Lizzo amidst her ongoing controversy has been sued again, this time by her costume designer, who accused the singer of creating a hostile work environment as well as for racism and body shaming.

The lawsuit, which the firm representing plaintiffs filed on September 21 in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused Lizzo and her supervisors of indulging in perverted sexual acts, racial discrimination, sexual and religious discrimination, disability discrimination, retaliation, assault, creating a hostile work environment, and abuse of power during her ‘Big Grrl Big Touring’, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

This adds up to the several allegations that the ‘Big Grrrl’ singer has already been facing from her former tour dancers, who had sued Lizzo earlier for claims of interrogating them about their weight and pressuring them to engage in sexually explicit acts at sex shows.

Augmenting the already several dozen charges, sexual harassment claims from the dancers, costume designer Asha Daniels who designed pieces for the dancers on tour, described it an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture” in which misconduct was encouraged by Lizzo and her wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura, according to the lawsuit.

“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.”

When Lizzo’s tour got to Amsterdam, Daniels claims she saw Nomura and other supervisors “discussing hiring sex workers for lewd acts, attending sex shows, and buying hard drugs”. She claims she was pressured to join. The lawsuit filed by Lizzo’s tour dancers similarly described an incident in Amsterdam earlier this year where staff was allegedly pushed to engage with nude performers.

Lizzo was said to have pressured one of the plaintiffs to “touch the breasts of one of the nude women performing at the club” and “began leading a chant goading” her to do so despite her expressing discomfort.

The complaint filed by Nomura on September 21 also said that Lizzo subjected her employees to aggressive verbal harassment with her management team being more than aware of this.

The complaint details: “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 b***” and “stab a b***” when she could not find her medication.

“(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.”

Additionally, Daniels details a grueling work schedule in which she worked 20 hours every day. She says she was “frequently denied breaks” by Nomura, who “monitored and policed” workers under her supervision. In one instance, Nomura allegedly sprained Daniels’ ankle when she was transporting a clothing rack. When Daniels changed into orthopedic shoes due to the injury, Nomura allegedly forced her to switch back into tennis shoes.

“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.

–IANS