On Friday, musical artist Lizzo took to Instagram to post a message declaring to her 12 million followers that she ‘quits,’ while lamenting about “being dragged on the internet,” with rumors and jokes being told about her. It remains unclear at the time of this writing if Lizzo, the four-time Grammy winner, is quitting her music career, or cutting ties with social media.
Lizzo, real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson, posted:
Warning: post contains profanity
I’m getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet. All I want is to make music and make people happy and help the world be a little better than how I found it. But I’m starting to feel like the world doesn’t want me in it. I’m constantly up against lies being told about me for clout & views… being the butt of the joke every single time because of how I look… my character being picked apart by people who don’t know me and disrespecting my name.
I didn’t sign up for this sh*t-
I QUIT.
This announcement comes less than 24 hours after she performed at Radio City Music Hall for Joe Biden’s fundraiser featuring former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The fundraiser, billed as a first-of-its-kind, raised $25 million for Biden’s re-election campaign, as pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted during speakers’ comments from the event inside, and clashed with police on the Manhattan streets outside.
More than 5,000 people attended the sold-out fundraiser, among them numerous celebrities. Lizzo performed alongside other artists, such as Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele.
Ron Zambrano, the attorney representing three former dancers suing Lizzo for sexual harassment, criticized the Democratic National Committee’s decision to feature Lizzo at the fundraiser. Zambrano described her inclusion in the event as “a terrible look,” and expressed disappointment, saying,
It’s shameful that Lizzo would be chosen to headline an event like this amid such egregious allegations. Without getting into the politics, I can’t imagine why anyone would want Lizzo representing them in any way, given her reprehensible behavior.
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Attendees of the glitzy Democrat event leaked videos of Lizzo’s performance on social media.
The harassment lawsuit, brought in August by former backup dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, accuses the singer and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of creating a hostile work environment. The allegations include sexual, religious, and racial discrimination, sexual harassment, demeaning visits to the Bananenbar in Amsterdam and Crazy Horse in Paris, false imprisonment, and assault.
In October, Lizzo filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The October filing reads,
Plaintiffs missed flights, arrived late and hungover to rehearsals and drunk to performances, entered into consensual sexual relationships with male crew members on tour, exhibited a rapid decline in the quality of their dancing and professionalism, and ultimately conspired to make and disseminate an unauthorized recording of a creative meeting with Lizzo and the dance cast.
In February, a ruling indicated that the case would proceed to trial after a judge dismissed one of the plaintiff’s allegations of “fat shaming” as constitutionally protected speech, but denied the singer’s motion to dismiss. Lizzo has denied “each and every” one of the allegations against her.
