Lizzo's request to toss sexual harassment lawsuit denied by judge

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A Los Angeles County Judge denied singer Lizzo’s request to drop the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against her by several former backup dancers, thus the case is now set for trial.

According to the New York Daily News, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Marc H. Epstein decided to drop several of the accusations against the singer but declined to throw the full suit out.

In a statement to ET, Lizzo’s spokesman Stefan Friedman said, “Lizzo is grateful to the judge for seeing through much of the noise and recognizing who she is. a strong woman who exists to lift others up and spread positivity.” He added, “We plan to appeal all elements that the judge chose to keep in the lawsuit and are confident we will prevail.”

The attorney for the accusers in the case, Ron Zambrano said they are looking forward to the trial. “He did dismiss a few allegations, including the meeting where Arianna was fat-shamed, the nude photo shoot, and dancers being forced to be on ‘hold’ while not on tour,” He said.

“The other claims remain, including sexual, religious and racial discrimination, sexual harassment, the demeaning visits to the Bananenbar in Amsterdam and Crazy Horse in Paris, false imprisonment, and assault,” Zambrano noted. “The ruling also rightfully signals that Lizzo, or any celebrity, is not insulated from this sort of reprehensible conduct merely because she is famous.”

“We now look forward to conducting discovery and preparing the case for trial,” he concluded.

News of the accusations and the subsequent lawsuit was brought forth in August by Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Nicole Rodriguez. They claimed that the overweight performers at the forefront of the body positivity movement fat-shamed them, sexually harassed them, and created a hostile work environment.

In one incident listed in the filings, Lizzo allegedly took the dancers to the Red-Light District in Amsterdam and “began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”

“The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly, while privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing,” Zambrano said at the time.

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