Lizzo has described the lawsuit filed in opposition to her by her ex-dancers as a “fabricated sob story” and has filed her personal movement asking the courtroom to dismiss it.

In August, it emerged that three former backup dancers for the singer had sued her for making a hostile work setting and interesting in sexual harassment, amongst different allegations. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 2021 and 2023.

As reported by Rolling Stone, this transfer now sees Lizzo and her representatives allege that the dancers in query had proven a “sample of gross misconduct”.

The submitting states: “Plaintiffs missed flights, arrived late and hungover to rehearsals and drunk to performances, entered into consensual sexual relationships with male crew members on tour, exhibited a fast decline within the high quality of their dancing and professionalism, and in the end conspired to make and disseminate an unauthorized recording of a artistic assembly with Lizzo and the dance solid.”

This movement has requested the courtroom to dismiss the lawsuit beneath the anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Towards Public Participation) statute, which has the facility to strike down lawsuits that threaten free speech.

The three dancers, Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez, are represented by the lawyer Neama Rahmani, who advised Rolling Stone: “Even a first-year regulation scholar can see that ‘free speech’ doesn’t cowl Lizzo and her group’s unlawful sexual harassment and racial, spiritual, and incapacity discrimination. The protection’s declarants are both defendants accused of wrongdoing, or people who find themselves on Lizzo’s payroll, and their statements can’t be thought of by the decide. That’s a query for the jury.”

“Our purchasers have dozens of impartial witnesses who assist their tales, and we proceed to obtain inquiries from different former Lizzo workers who need to be new plaintiffs.”

In response, Lizzo’s lawyer Martin D. Singer mentioned that Lizzo gave the dancers a “leg up” and “an unbelievable alternative to take their careers to the following stage”. He added, “As a substitute of taking any accountability for their very own actions, Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in opposition to Defendants out of spite and in pursuit of media consideration, public sympathy and a fast payday with minimal effort.”

Included in Lizzo’s movement are 18 written declarations from the singer’s crew, together with former dancers, managers and band members.

One, from bassist Zuri Appleby, responds to the accusation that Lizzo had fat-shamed Davis. “On the contrary, everybody on the tour was genuinely involved about Davis, not as a result of she had gained weight, however as a result of she was lax about her performances, her hygiene and her well being,” he says.

“[Her weight gain] was regarding as a result of it was affecting the standard of her efficiency and her power stage, and never as a result of she appeared totally different… Lizzo met along with her to present her the chance to start out specializing in her well being and to supply her assist and instruments to take action, which was a blessing as a result of she might have been despatched dwelling with out warning as a result of she was not assembly the requirements for her job.”

In August, the lawyer representing the three dancers claimed that his agency are reviewing no less than six new complaints in regards to the singer. “A number of the claims we’re reviewing could also be actionable, however it’s too quickly to say,” he mentioned.

It has additionally been reported that in January, 14 of Lizzo’s dancers obtained a settlement for an additional dispute regarding footage from the 2022 documentary Love, Lizzo. The dancers claimed {that a} scene the place they talk about misogyny, racism and weight-shaming was used with out authorisation. Lizzo’s lawyer commented that Lizzo “had nothing to do” with the dispute and “knew nothing about it”.

In September, Lizzo’s authorized group issued courtroom paperwork asking the decide to dismiss the lawsuit “in its entirety”.