A documentary filmmaker has come forward with accusations against Lizzo just hours after a disturbing lawsuit was filed against the popular musician.
Sophia Nahli Allison said in a statement shared on her social media accounts that she had been attached to the “Truth Hurts” singer’s documentary “Love, Lizzo” in 2019, but left the project after just two weeks because the Grammy winner treated her “with such disrespect.”
HuffPost has reached out to Lizzo for comment on Allison’s allegations, but did not receive an immediate response.
Allison’s accusations came shortly after three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against her, claiming the “Juice” singer sexually harassed them and fostered a hostile work environment.
“I usually do not comment on anything pop culture related,” Allison said in an Instagram story posted Tuesday, which she also shared on Twitter. “But, in 2019, I traveled a bit with Lizzo to be the director of her documentary. I walked away after about 2 weeks. I was treated with such disrespect by her.”
“I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is. I was not protected and was thrown into a shitty situation with little support,” Allison continued. “My spirit said to run as fast as you fucking can and I’m so grateful I trusted my gut.”
“Reading these reports made me realize how dangerous of a situation it was,” the filmmaker concluded. “This kind of abuse of power happens far too often.”
On Twitter (which has now rebranded as X), the filmmaker — who is known for the Oscar-nominated Netflix documentary “A Love Song for Latasha,” about the 1992 shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in Los Angeles — shared why she wanted to speak out. “Validating other Black women’s experiences is deeply important to me,” she explained.
Noelle Rodriguez — one of LIzzo’s former backup dancers who is suing her — shared Allison’s allegations on her own Instagram story.
In the reshared post, Rodriguez thanked Allison for her support, adding: “If this situation can bring courage to anyone in our industry that has been through something similar, we’ve already won.”
Allison later shared Rodriguez’s post.
Screenshot @yagurlsophia/Instagram
On Tuesday, Rodriguez and two more of Lizzo’s former backup dancers — Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams — filed a lawsuit against the singer. They allege Lizzo created a toxic work environment that required them to endure sexual, religious and racial harassment, assault and false imprisonment, among other things.
The suit details an alleged incident in which Lizzo allegedly berated then fired Davis for audio-recording a group meeting between Lizzo and her dancers. Davis alleges she recorded the meeting in order to keep notes.
Rodriguez alleges in the suit that she confronted Lizzo about the way she handled the situation with Davis, and then Rodriguez resigned. After her resignation, Lizzo “aggressively approached Ms. Rodriguez, cracking her knuckles, balling her fists, and exclaiming, ‘You’re lucky. You’re so fucking lucky,’” the lawsuit claims. Rodriguez said she thought Lizzo wanted to hit her and would have if one of the other dancers didn’t intervene. When Lizzo left the room, she allegedly raised both her middle fingers and yelled, “Bye, bitch!”
Another allegation in the suit claims that Lizzo invited her team to a nude club in Amsterdam’s red-light district after the singer performed a concert in the Netherlands. The dancers allege Lizzo aggressively pressured them to touch the nude performers, catch dildos “launched from the performers’ vaginas,” and eat bananas “protruding from the performers’ vaginas.”