Beyoncé has removed a reference to “Good as Hell” singer Lizzo in her “Break My Soul” remix, just hours after three former dancers brought a lawsuit against Lizzo for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
Lizzo’s name was mentioned in the song — alongside Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, Nicki Minaj and others — as part of Beyoncé’s homage to Black women in the entertainment industry. During Beyoncé’s Boston concert on Tuesday night, she omitted Lizzo’s name when it came on the screen, instead repeating Erykah Badu’s name four times, according to Yahoo!
Former dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez filed suit against Lizzo, Big Grrrl Big Touring (BGBT), and Shirlene Quigley — captain of the tour’s dance — for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
In a stacked lawsuit obtained by NBC News, the dancers claim sexual harassment, religious and racial harassment, false imprisonment, interference with prospective economic advantage and more. The suit accuses Quigley of “proselytizing to other performers and deriding those who had premarital sex while sharing lewd sexual fantasies, simulating oral sex and publicly discussing the virginity of one of the plaintiffs.”
Two of the dancers, Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams, were featured in the show “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrls,” and quickly became audience favorites.
Lizzo and her team have yet to respond to the allegations.
On the heels of the lawsuit news, documentarian and photographer Sophie Nahil Allison revealed that she stopped working on a project with Lizzo “due to disrespect,” according to NME.
“I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is. I was not protected and was thrown into a s**tty situation with little support,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “My spirit said to run as fast as you f**king can and I’m so grateful I trusted my gut. I felt gaslit and was deeply hurt, but I’ve healed. Reading these reports made me realize how dangerous of a situation it was. This kind of abuse of power happens far too often.”
