Lizzo Has Lost Over 150,000 Instagram Followers In The Past 24 Hours Amid Growing Backlash Toward Her Statement Addressing Her Former Dancers’ Legal Claims

Lizzo Has Lost Over 150,000 Instagram Followers In The Past 24 Hours Amid Growing Backlash Toward Her Statement Addressing Her Former Dancers’ Legal Claims,Lizzo was accused of sexual harassment, weight-shaming, and creating a hostile work environment in a lawsuit filed by her former dancers earlier this week.

Lizzo Has Lost Over 150,000 Instagram Followers In The Past 24 Hours Amid Growing Backlash Toward Her Statement Addressing Her Former Dancers’ Legal Claims

Warning: Discussion of sexual harassment.

On Aug. 1, three of Lizzo’s former employees filed a lawsuit accusing her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

Lizzo’s production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, and dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, are also named in the lawsuit alongside the singer, though each of them is facing different allegations.

The suit alleges that Lizzo once pressured her dancers to participate in a sex show that took place inside a strip club in Amsterdam. According to the former employees’ claims, Lizzo began “inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers” — which Arianna allegedly declined to do four times — and “eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Lizzo shamed — and later fired — a dancer over their weight gain, and that she had her dancers do an “excruciating” 12-hour rehearsal. The former employees claimed that if the singer didn’t like their performances, they’d be fired.

Describing the past few days as “overwhelmingly disappointing,” Lizzo claimed that her former dancers’ allegations are “false.”

“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” she wrote. “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”

Lizzo went on to deny the claims that she fired an employee over their weight: “I know what it feels like to be body shamed on a daily basis and would absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight.”

While some people have since shown their support for Lizzo in light of her statement, others suggested that she was seemingly “justifying” the alleged behavior” at points — namely when she highlighted that she’s “very open” with her sexuality.

Presumably as a result, Lizzo’s follower count has dropped significantly over the past 24 hours.

According to statistics site Social Blade, Lizzo lost a total of 132,942 Instagram followers the same day she posted her statement denying her former employees’ claims.

In the hours since, she’s lost a further 22,139, bringing her total number of lost followers over the past 24 hours up to 155,081.

What’s more, Lizzo lost a total of 34,604 Instagram followers on Aug. 1 — the day the suit was filed — and Aug. 2, the day before she spoke out. This means she’s lost almost 200,000 followers since the allegations came to light.

Topics in this article

Lizzo

Leyla MohammedBuzzFeed Staff
Leyla Mohammed a is Celebrity Reporter for BuzzFeed UK and is based in London.
Contact Leyla Mohammed at [email protected].
Got a confidential tip? 👉 Submit it here