With three Grammy awards, a top-charting album and an Emmy for her reality TV show, Lizzo has become one of the world’s most recognized female artists. Getting to where she is now certainly was not an easy feat. Lizzo’s passion for music flourished after fifth grade, when she picked up the flute in her school band. She went on to major in music at the University of Houston, but her love of music seemed to die when her father passed away. However, she eventually found her way back to the music studio.
In 2017, Lizzo released one of her biggest tracks to date, “Truth Hurts”, which now has over 565 million streams. After fighting tooth and nail to attain the success she has today, her career has taken a sudden fall due to recent false sexual harassment accusations.
“I don’t really know that much about Lizzo or her community, but I’m a strong believer that people should always treat others how they would like to be treated. If she did this to her dancers, it’s definitely not right and there should be some sort of consequence,” sophomore Adrian Perez said.
Ever since the moment she became a celebrity, Lizzo has promoted body positivity. By dedicating herself to helping all women accept and love their bodies, she has become an artist who many young women admire and respect. She expresses her beliefs through her music, and her song “Juice” aims to empower women and to make them feel confident. Lizzo’s message is a simple one, and that is to love yourself just the way you are. Having created this all-inclusive and body positive image for herself, it is surprising to hear that she has been charged with sexual harassment and the creation of a hostile work environment.
“Honestly I’ve never really been a big fan of Lizzo and I don’t listen to her music that often, but if she did sexually harass her dancers then she deserves to be held accountable for that,” sophomore Linus Boettcher said.
Three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers have come forward to accuse her of sexual misconduct. They claim that they were pressured into touching a nude performer at an Amsterdam club and later subjected to an excruciating audition after being accused of drinking on the job. They even say that Lizzo, who is known as the queen of body positivity, was calling attention to one dancer’s weight gain, who she berated and later fired; these accusations are highly exaggerated.
In actuality, Lizzo never explicitly shamed her, but her comments were misinterpreted by the dancers as a form of fat shaming. After appearing at a music festival, Arianna Davis, one of the dancers, was told that she seemed to be “less committed” towards her role. Davis claims this comment was specifically directed towards her due to her recent weight gain. She certainly is jumping to conclusions which has led many to question the honesty of the rest of the charges placed against Lizzo and her production company. All of these allegations go against what she has publicly supported in the past; this is why many refuse to believe that these testimonies are true.
“I think Lizzo did do this to her dancers, but she just doesn’t want to take responsibility for it. Her whole brand is about body positivity, but she’s firing her own dancers over weight gain. It’s very hypocritical of her,” sophomore Adriana Garcia said.
Lizzo has done nothing but advocate for people of color and for LGBTQ+ people, whose health, safety and rights are always under threat. Her entire brand is based upon body positivity, self love and being comfortable in one’s own skin. Her backup dancers’ accusations are simply attempts to get money and see Lizzo’s career fail. She has worked so hard to be in the position where she is today, which is why these accusations definitely seem to be false.
Though some may say her dancers’ claims are the truth, these women are merely trying to get attention and hurt the woman who provided them with the opportunity of a lifetime. Lizzo would not risk her entire line of work to harass her backup dancers or to create a hostile work environment.
Lizzo responded to her former dancers’ accusations through an Instagram post, insisting that these claims are “sensationalized stories” and that she is “hurt.” She does not usually take the time to respond to false accusations, but she says that these are too outrageous not to be addressed. Her apology received mixed feedback from fans, as some still believe she is duplicitous, while others maintain that she would not be so unkind towards her dancers.
“It’s weird to me that even after spreading so many body positive messages towards the public she would do something like this. Nobody should ever be fired solely because of their size or how they look. It is really shocking that she would do that to her dancers,” sophomore Alyssa Dopico said.
Lizzo’s commitment towards promoting inclusivity, diversity and acceptance has proven these accusations wrong. Her music has served as a platform to uplift women and to encourage self-confidence, making her an inspiration to the music industry and to the rest of the world as well. Leaving these backup dancers behind her, she will continue to break song records, earn more Grammys and spread positivity through her music.
