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Lizzo accused of sexual harassment and fat-shaming (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago by LollerCorleone@kbin.social to c/music

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Three former dancers allege the singer contributed to creating a hostile work environment.

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[–] livus@kbin.social 40 points 1 year ago (18 children)

I'm keeping an open mind on this one because some of these allegations is a bit constructive/interpretive:

Ms Davis alleges the two questioned whether she was "struggling with something as she seemed less committed to her role on the dance cast", the case details.

"In professional dance, a dancer's weight gain is often seen as that dancer getting lazy or worse off as a performer. Lizzo's and Ms. Scott's questions about Ms. Davis's commitment to the tour were thinly veiled concerns about Ms Davis's weight gain," the documents allege.

So what actually happened is she was asked if something was wrong because they thought she was less committed.

Her argument here is that reading between the lines they really meant "you are too fat".

But what if reading between the lines they actually meant "you keep phoning it in during rehearsals"?

[–] LollerCorleone@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Yes, that one could be misinterpretation. But there are also more problematic behaviours listed in the lawsuit:

The legal action, filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, includes allegations the dancers were "forced to endure sexually denigrating behaviour" and were "pressured into participating in disturbing sex shows" between 2021 and 2023.

Among the claims against Lizzo - whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson - are that she "pressured Ms Davis to touch the breasts" of a performer in a nightclub in Amsterdam, and Ms Davis - after resisting - eventually acquiesced "fearing it may harm her future on the team" if she didn't do so.

The case also alleges that staff working for BGBT scolded dancers for "unacceptable and disrespectful" behaviour while working on the tour, without specifying what that behaviour was.

The dancers allege that "only the dance cast - comprised of full-figured women of colour - were ever spoken to in this manner, giving [the dancers] the impression that these comments were charged with racial and fat-phobic animus".

Additionally, it alleges the dance team's captain, Shirlene Quigley, pushed her Christian beliefs on performers and derided those who engaged in premarital sex.

She is also accused of openly discussing one of the former dancers' virginity, and posting about it on social media.

[–] livus@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

True, they do sound more serious, I agree. But the problem with the example I quoted is it makes me wonder what the standard is for these other allegations, in terms of the relationship between what was actually said and what was inferred.

If someone's the kind of person who assumes having their commitment questioned must be veiled fat shaming, then they might be doing the same kind of leaps with these other things.

For example, being scolded for disrespectful behaviour, might genuinely be because the clique of dancers were the only ones engaging in the behaviour.

It just makes me a little hesitant. Perhaps the suit makes it clearer.

[–] paaviloinen@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Fat-shaming is so commonplace especially in ballet and dancing in general and this is quite a common way to put it - using the allegory of "motivation" even when they refer to shape, so I would argue that this is a justified way of "reading between the lines".

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