Months before a lawsuit claiming that Lizzo subjected dancers to sexual harassment and weight shaming (which she denies), her team settled a payment dispute with 14 different dancers who said they appeared in the US musician’s 2022 HBO Max documentary Love, Lizzo without their consent, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The documentary shows a group of dancers who discuss being plus-size and Black women during rehearsals for Lizzo’s performance at the 2019 MTV Video Music awards (VMAs).
“You can’t let nobody see you sweat,” one dancer says as her colleagues nod and wipe tears from their eyes. “You have to be three times better than. It’s not two times. It’s three times. You know what I mean?”
The dancers said they were filmed without their knowledge and weren’t remunerated for their appearance.
On 17 January this year, their manager emailed Alan Brunswick, a lawyer for the documentary co-producer Boardwalk Pictures, saying: “After seeing all of the videos, I’m sure you realise how sensitive and private the dialogue was for the talent involved. This was supposed to be a safe space to express and share with the Principal talent [Lizzo], so by sharing this unauthorised footage to the public without their approval/permissions, has truly exploited these women and violated the emotional safety they had in those moments.”
While the dancers worked under a union contract allowing them to be filmed at the VMAs, they were not presented with a contract for the behind-the-scenes footage that appeared in the documentary.
Brunswick told the LA Times that all footage was “captured openly” and with consent. “They all knew the cameras were there. I don’t think the documentary was even contemplated at that point.”
A lawyer for Lizzo, Martin Singer, said: “Lizzo had nothing to do with it and knew nothing about it.”
After one dancer sought legal assistance to proceed with their claims, Boardwalk Pictures, an entity representing Lizzo, real name Melissa Jefferson, and other parties signed confidential settlements with the dancers in February. They released their rights to the footage and were paid between $7,092 (£5,587) and $7,545 for their appearances, resulting in a total payout of $109,551, and had to sign nondisparagement and confidentiality clauses preventing the dancers from discussing the settlement with third parties.
Earlier this month, Lizzo was accused by three different dancers of sexual harassment and of creating a hostile work environment through sexual, racial and religious harassment in several incidents between 2021 and 2023. The dancers also alleged that Lizzo, known as an advocate for body positivity and self-love, criticised a dancer’s recent weight gain and later berated, then fired, that dancer for recording a meeting.
Lizzo denied the allegations, calling them “sensationalised stories” and saying that she was only speaking out because these “false allegations” were “as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous not to be addressed”.
This week Singer told the Independent that Lizzo intends to countersue for “malicious prosecution after she prevails and these specious claims are dismissed” and called the lawsuit “a sham”.
