This article discusses sexual violence and may be triggering for some readers. The Kingston Sexual Assault Centre’s 24-hour crisis and support phone line can be reached at 613-544-6424 / 1-800-544-6424.
If all the Lizzo rumors are true, we should never meet our heroes.
Last month, former Lizzo dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, filed a lawsuit against the singer and her entertainment company with shocking allegations.
The lawsuit accuses Lizzo and other dance crew leads of sexual and racial harassment, false imprisonment, disability discrimination, and assault. The dancers state other misconduct not included in the lawsuit exist, but these additional allegations lack sufficient evidence to be brought before court.
One of the most shocking allegations is the fat shaming dancers endured. Lizzo allegedly criticized the appearance of one of the dancers, and implied the dancer was lazy, berating them about weight gain.
The dancers also spoke about a night out in Amsterdam to a nude strip club where Lizzo disregarded concern for her dancers’ consent. In this instance, Lizzo was demeaning and pressured her crew to attend.
At the event, performers were pressured to touch sex toys and eat bananas sticking out of other performers’ vaginas. Chants ensued pressuring Arianna Davis to touch one of the performer’s breasts, despite her repeatedly saying she didn’t want to.
Many of Lizzo’s supporters were quick to mention events were voluntary. The week after the Amsterdam incident Lizzo took her crew out again without disclosing their final destination. It was a nude cabaret bar. This action disregards the autonomy of the crew by preventing them from opting out of an evening where they’d be subject to unnecessary nudity.
Lizzo is a plus-sized singer and dancer who’s advocated for plus-sized women in the entertainment industry for years. By consistently speaking out against fat-shaming, she’s been praised for her body positive advocacy and inclusivity.
This lawsuit contradicts Lizzo’s public persona, and shatters the image of the empowering icon fans have come to know and love. For her devoted fans, it hurts to see such a controversy plague their favourite artist, and explains why many were hesitant to believe these accusations and attempted to defend her on social media.
By failing to practice what she preaches, Lizzo’s actions risk to discredit the work body-positive activists have been doing for years. It reduces the voice of others advocating for acceptance of diverse body types and gives opponents of the movement ammunition against body positivity. Opponents to the body positivity movement can now simply appeal to Lizzo’s hypocrisy and set her as a bad example of the movement.
The allegations against Lizzo are another piece of evidence against the idolization of celebrities. By putting them on a pedestal and making them the face of social movements, we place the weight of activism on their shoulders. Their transgressions have more dire consequences when they represent social movements, as they set a negative public precedent in the eyes of society for these social movements going forward.
We should be careful not to idolize celebrities and hold them to the same standard as we do their non-famous counterparts. If anything, Lizzo shows that its completely possible for a celebrity to be the complete opposite in private, of what they represent in public.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.
jav
Genuinely when someone doesn’t know afterward its up to other people that they will
assist, so here it takes place.