Lizzo is facing a new lawsuit from a former wardrobe designer on her tour who says she was subjected to fat shaming and racism while working for the Grammy award winner.
Lizzo denies all the claims against her, calling it a “sham lawsuit”.
Asha Daniels, a clothing designer, designed the wardrobe for the dancers who were on Lizzo’s 2023 tour. She reported to Amanda Nomura, Lizzo’s wardrobe manager.
Daniels says she was the subject of “racist and fatphobic comments from Nomura”.
Her lawsuit alleges she heard Nomura “mock both Lizzo and Lizzo’s background dancers on multiple occasions. Nomura would imitate the dancers and Lizzo by doing an offensive stereotypical impression of a Black woman. Nomura would also refer to Black women on the tour as ‘dumb’, ‘useless’, and ‘fat’.”
Lizzo, whose given name is Melissa Jefferson, is named in the lawsuit alongside her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc (BGBT), Nomura, and her tour manager Carlina Gugliotta.
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From August – In full: Lizzo’s ex-dancers speak out
Lizzo accused of ‘condoning sexual workplace culture’
The lawsuit says Daniels was forced to endure sexual harassment by Lizzo’s management, specifically in one instance being on a group text with more than 30 members of the BGBT team that included graphic and disturbing images of male genitalia.
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“Lizzo’s management found the image to be comical, further encouraging an unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture,” the lawsuit states. It adds it was “a culture that has been nurtured and condoned by Lizzo”.
Daniels also says she witnessed Nomura, the crew and Lizzo’s management team openly discussing hiring sex workers for lewd acts while on tour in Amsterdam, attending sex shows and buying hard drugs.
She began work on Lizzo’s tour in February 2023.
Daniels says she was forced to work 20-hour days, often seven days a week and was frequently denied breaks, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the complaint, Daniels was instructed by Nomura not to have direct contact with Lizzo because she would be jealous of her, and that if she did, she should “tone it down”.
Nomura specifically told Daniels not to dress attractively in front of Lizzo, according to the lawsuit.
Award for Lizzo ‘timed to repair damage to brand’
Lizzo is set to receive the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award presented by the Black Music Action Coalition today.
Daniels’ lawyer said the timing is cynical.
“The timing of this award’s announcement stinks of an architected PR stunt by Lizzo’s team aimed at trying to repair the damage done to her brand,” said Ron Zambrano, a partner at West Coast Employment Lawyers.
“It won’t work. With Lizzo’s attack on the other plaintiffs, we’ve heard from more than two dozen former Lizzo employees sharing similar stories of abuse and harassment who could be potential new plaintiffs. This is not going away.”
Stefan Friedman, a spokesperson for Lizzo, said: “As Lizzo receives a Humanitarian Award tonight from the Black Music Action Coalition for the incredible charitable work she has done to lift up all people, an ambulance-chasing lawyer tries to sully this honour by recruiting someone to file a bogus, absurd publicity-stunt lawsuit who, wait for it, never actually met or even spoke with Lizzo.
“We will pay this as much attention as it deserves. None.”
Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man and other 1960s hits in the legendary Sam & Dave duo, has died aged 89.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery, his publicist Jeremy Westby said.
No additional details were immediately available.
Moore was inducted with Dave Prater, who had died in a 1988 car crash, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
The duo, at the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, including Hold On, I’m Comin’.
Many of their records were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the record label’s house band Booker T & the MGs.
Sam & Dave faded after their 1960s heyday but Soul Man hit the charts again in the late 1970s when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, recorded it with many of the same musicians.
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Moore had mixed feelings about the hit becoming associated with the Saturday Night Live stars, remembering how young people believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.
Sam & Dave broke up in 1970 and neither had another major hit.
Moore later said his drug habit played a part in the band’s troubles and made record executives wary of giving him a fresh start.
He married his wife Joyce in 1982, and she helped him get treatment for his addiction that he credited with saving his life.
Moore spent years suing Prater after his former partner hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam & Dave.
He also lost a lawsuit claiming the pair of aging, estranged singers in the 2008 movie Soul Men was too close to the duo.
In another legal case, he and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993, claiming he had been cheated out of retirement benefits.
Despite his million-selling records, he said in 1994 his pension amounted to just 2,285 US dollars (£1,872), which he could take as a lump sum or in monthly payments of 73 US dollars (£60).
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said at the time. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”
Moore wrote Dole Man, based on Soul Man, for Republican Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and was one of the few entertainers who performed at President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities in 2017.
Eight years earlier, he objected to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s use of the song Hold On, I’m Comin’ during his campaign.
The fires that have been raging in Los Angeles County this week may be the “most destructive” in modern US history.
In just three days, the blazes have covered tens of thousands of acres of land and could potentially have an economic impact of up to $150bn (£123bn), according to private forecaster Accuweather.
Sky News has used a combination of open-source techniques, data analysis, satellite imagery and social media footage to analyse how and why the fires started, and work out the estimated economic and environmental cost.
More than 1,000 structures have been damaged so far, local officials have estimated. The real figure is likely to be much higher.
“In fact, it’s likely that perhaps 15,000 or even more structures have been destroyed,” said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at Accuweather.
These include some of the country’s most expensive real estate, as well as critical infrastructure.
Accuweather has estimated the fires could have a total damage and economic loss of between $135bn and $150bn.
“It’s clear this is going to be the most destructive wildfire in California history, and likely the most destructive wildfire in modern US history,” said Mr Porter.
“That is our estimate based upon what has occurred thus far, plus some considerations for the near-term impacts of the fires,” he added.
The calculations were made using a wide variety of data inputs, from property damage and evacuation efforts, to the longer-term negative impacts from job and wage losses as well as a decline in tourism to the area.
The Palisades fire, which has burned at least 20,000 acres of land, has been the biggest so far.
Satellite imagery and social media videos indicate the fire was first visible in the area around Skull Rock, part of a 4.5 mile hiking trail, northeast of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
These videos were taken by hikers on the route at around 10.30am on Tuesday 7 January, when the fire began spreading.
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At about the same time, this footage of a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport was captured. A growing cloud of smoke is visible in the hills in the background – the same area where the hikers filmed their videos.
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The area’s high winds and dry weather accelerated the speed that the fire has spread. By Tuesday night, Eaton fire sparked in a forested area north of downtown LA, and Hurst fire broke out in Sylmar, a suburban neighbourhood north of San Fernando, after a brush fire.
These images from NASA’s Black Marble tool that detects light sources on the ground show how much the Palisades and Eaton fires grew in less than 24 hours.
On Tuesday, the Palisades fire had covered 772 acres. At the time of publication of Friday, the fire had grown to cover nearly 20,500 acres, some 26.5 times its initial size.
The Palisades fire was the first to spark, but others erupted over the following days.
At around 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, the Lidia fire was first reported in Acton, next to the Angeles National Forest north of LA. Smaller than the others, firefighters managed to contain the blaze by 75% on Friday.
On Thursday, the Kenneth fire was reported at 2.40pm local time, according to Ventura County Fire Department, near a place called Victory Trailhead at the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
This footage from a fire-monitoring camera in Simi Valley shows plumes of smoke billowing from the Kenneth fire.
Sky News analysed infrared satellite imagery to show how these fires grew all across LA.
The largest fires are still far from being contained, and have prompted thousands of residents to flee their homes as officials continued to keep large areas under evacuation orders. It’s unclear when they’ll be able to return.
“This is a tremendous loss that is going to result in many people and businesses needing a lot of help, as they begin the very slow process of putting their lives back together and rebuilding,” said Mr Porter.
“This is going to be an event that is going to likely take some people and businesses, perhaps a decade to recover from this fully.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.