A defiant Lizzo accepted the Black Music Action Coalition’s Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award Thursday night in the face of a second lawsuit over the working conditions on her tour.
“Thank you so much for this, because I needed this right now,” Lizzo said as she accepted the award, pointedly surrounded by her Big Grrls dancers. “God’s timing is always on time! I didn’t write a speech because I don’t know what to say in times like these.”
Hours earlier, the “Good as Hell” singer was slapped with another lawsuit, this one from the woman who designed her troupe’s wardrobe for her 2023 tour, alleging that she created a “sexualized, racially charged and illegal work environment.”
The suit claims that Lizzo’s management team made “racist and fatphobic comments mocking Black women,” and that the designer, Asha Daniels, was denied worker medical care and forced to “endure degrading sexual harassment.”
Lizzo’s spokesperson called the lawsuit a “bogus, absurd publicity-stunt” prior to the ceremony.
The suit came on top of a separate action in August brought by three dancers who were part of her stage show, who also claimed that they were weight-shamed by the four-time Grammy winner and were subject to “sexual, religious and racial harassment.”
The singer has refuted the claims made by her former dancers, which she called “outrageous.” The singer insisted, “I am not the villain.”
Accepting the award, Lizzo pushed back on the suits that are chipping away at her image.
“It’s easy to do the right thing when everybody’s watching you, and it’s what you do in those moments when nobody’s watching that defines who you are,” she said. “And I’m going to continue to be who I am, no matter who’s watching.
“I’m going to continue to shine a light on the people who are helping people, because they deserve it. I’m going to continue to amplify the voices of marginalized people because I have a microphone and I know how to use it,” the “Truth Hurts” singer continued. “And, I’m going to continue to put on and represent safe spaces for Black fat women, because that’s what the f–k I do!”
