Lizzo hit with a brand new lawsuit about "bullying" by her touring staff

The Lizzo camp—already reeling from a series of news reports and legal threats that have steadily chipped away at the artist’s reputation for inclusion and positivity over the last few months—has been hit with yet another lawsuit today. Specifically, NBC News reports that Lizzo has been named in a lawsuit from fashion designer Asha Daniels, who is accusing the singer of turning a blind eye to the behavior of her wardrobe manager, Amanda Nomura, who is alleged to have denigrated Lizzo’s team of dancers, forced them to change costumes in front of male co-workers, and had Daniels fired when she protested her behavior.

In a response to the news, Lizzo’s team made a statement claiming that the new suit—which comes from Ron Zambrano, also representing three of Lizzo’s dancer in a separate suit against her—was “a bogus, absurd publicity-stunt lawsuit” from someone who “never actually met or even spoke with Lizzo.” Which actually backs up at least part of Daniels’ claims, since she says one of the first things Nomura told her, after hiring her on for Lizzo’s 2023 touring, was to never interact with the star. (The suit also alleges that she was told never to dress attractively in front of Lizzo, lest it make her “jealous.”)

Although it touches briefly on the more high-profile accusations from the dancer’s suit—most notably the incident at an Amsterdam strip club where dancers said they felt pressured to touch the performers, and which Daniels says she heard about after the fact—the suit mostly focuses on Nomura’s day-to-day treatment of staff, including accusations that she did insulting impressions of Black women, and referred to dancers as ““fat,” “useless” and “dumb.” In a press statement, Daniels characterized the treatment of staff thusly: “I was witnessing myself, the dancers and the background vocalists and my local team in every city be harassed and bullied regularly.”

Nomura and Lizzo are both named in the suit—as is tour manager Carlina Gugliotta, who, the suit alleges, was at least sympathetic to the idea of trying to curtail Nomura’s behavior, or oust her entirely, even allegedly asking Daniels to film it at one point. (Neither Nomura, or Gugliotta, have commented on the story; Lizzo’s team has denied pretty much all the accusations against her, alleging that this new suit was launched today to “sully” her reception of the Black Music Action Coalition’s Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award. “We will pay this as much attention as it deserves,” her statement said. “None.”)