The three dancers suing Lizzo (as well as her company and one dance captain) opened up to the press, saying their action was “a last resort”

Talking to the BBC. From left, Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez. Screen shot: BBC.com

Finally, there is some back and forth. Lizzo broke her silence two days after it was widely reported that she was being sued by three of her former tour dancers, who claimed, among several charges, that she had subjected them to humiliating treatment. It is surprising that the usually loquacious singer has taken that long to respond. She called them “false allegations”, like most initially accused of bad behaviour would. The three women—Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez—followed Lizzo’s Instagram post by accepting interviews with news broadcast on both sides of the Atlantic. They did not appear to have embellished their recount of what happened, expressing that the star’s written response was “disheartening” and “frustrating”.

Looking like they attended the filming without the advantage of a stylist, the women spoke confidently and assuredly. They “do not think she’s a villain necessarily“ when they spoke to the BBC five hours ago, referring to Lizzo’s Instagram statement in which she said, “I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain…” But the three women who filed the lawsuit against the rapper/singer/songwriter in Los Angeles, “think she needs to be held accountable for all the things she has done”. The dancers—now no longer part of Lizzo’s performing cast—told the BBC they believe that the singer they had worked with is not inherently bad. Ms Davis said, “Do I think Lizzo can take this and change and be who she says she is? Yes, absolutely.”

On CNN, however, the revelations were sometimes startling. When Noelle Rodriguez was asked if she believed the singer would, in retaliation, use “physical violence” on her, she replied, ”Yeah, I do.” Ms Rodriguez went on to describe what happened once: “The facts of that were that she actually balled up her fists like this to me. She started cracking her knuckles, and she was like, ‘You’re so effing lucky that basically I’m not going to hit you.’ I was in shock watching her do that and cracking her knuckles, and acting as if she was going to come at me.” She also said that she did think Lizzo was ”about to assault” her. Someone described as the angry woman‘s “best friend” had to “physically hold her back”.

On tour in Oslo. Photo: lizzobeeating/Instagram

Lizzo, unsurprisingly, denied the incriminating allegations spelled out in the lawsuit, issuing that statement on IG, without really addressing the assertions, least of all offering an apology, even if her intentions were misunderstood. Instead, she said she found them “unbelievable”, dismissing them as “sensationalized stories” by “former employees”. She did not speak about the explosive disclosure of what happened at the strip club in Amsterdam or if the women were pressed to behave in a manner that was inconsistent with their real nature. Lizzo added, “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself” without saying if she needs others to join in that expression, except to say “I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”

By now, we know—at least on the surface—what Lizzo is: A woman who is supremely comfortable with her body even when there are those who aren’t, and to the point that she has to frequently present herself in various states of undress—on stage, in front of the camera, and definitely on social media. And also in a packed stadium. In 2019, she attended a Los Angeles Laker’s game, wearing a T-dress, fishnets, and boots. When she stood up from her seat to dance to her hit song Juice that was played, the world saw that the dress was cut out around the backside to reveal the wide expanse of skin that was her derriere, harnessed by the thonged panties. When Netizens said that there was no place in a stadium with kids for exposing one’s naked butt, her fans hit back by calling them “fat-phobic”, explaining that “Lizzo unapologetically existing as a fat black woman has many of you upset”.

Lizzo at the 2019 Laker’s game. Photo: Getty Images

Presently, after it is revealed she has been more than just open with her sexuality, would her fans still think Lizzo is the epitome of body confidence/positivity in the same way as they did before? It could be fine for one to be utterly proud of one’s posterior and comfortable with one’s body no matter how an antithesis it is to current thinking of what is a healthy weight; it is quite another to then turn around and hypocritically fat-shame others, as one of the allegations states, or expect others to share in your love for a plethora of sexual expressions and enjoyment, including those offered in a strip club, even when the people whom you wish to share your dabbling of deviancy is unwilling.

No one is saying Lizzo shouldn’t go to a bar to watch other women perform to arouse by expelling objects from their genitalia or hold comestibles in them for customer consumption, but by “pressuring” others to do so with her is a tad too close to the use of intimidation to beget compliance. In a separate interview with TMZ, one of the former dancers who filed the lawsuit, Crystal Williams, said, “there was like this always looming feeling of thinking that if you didn’t do something or if you didn’t adhere to certain suggestions or demands, your job could be in jeopardy.” No one working for whoever should have to feel that way. Not even for Lizzo.