Lizzo loses over 154,000 Instagram followers amid sexual harassment lawsuit

Lizzo has lost over 154,000 followers on Instagram following accusations of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.

• READ MORE: Lizzo – ‘Special’ review: joyful superstar uplifts with self-assured, self-empowering bops 

The accusations against the singer arose on Tuesday (August 1), when three of her former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against her.

The dancers – Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez – name Lizzo, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc., and her dance team captain Shirlene Quigley as defendants.

The rapper, singer, songwriter and actress is accused of pressuring a co-worker to touch a naked performer in an Amsterdam club and subjecting dancers to “excruciating” auditions. It also cites claims of religious and racial harassment, false imprisonment, interference with prospective economic advantage and more.

Yesterday (August 3), Lizzo responded to the accusations via a statement on her official social media channels, claiming that the allegations are “false”.

“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” she wrote in the post. “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.

“I’m hurt but I will not let the good work I’ve done in the world be overshadowed by this. I want to thank everyone who has reached out in support to lift me up during this difficult time.”

However, in the days since the allegations first came to light, it appears that the artist has lost over 154,000 followers on her Instagram page.

As reported by CrowdTangle – which is operated and owned by Instagram’s owner Meta – the ‘Good As Hell’ singer’s official Instagram page lost more than 14,800 followers on the day that the lawsuit went public.

This number plummeted further the following day, when she reportedly lost another 92,700 followers, and yesterday, despite her sharing a statement denying the allegations, she continued to lose another 47,200 fans on the platform.

As highlighted by Billboard, with Lizzo still boasting close to 13.5million followers on the platform, these figures mean that she has only lost around 1.14 per cent of her total followers.

Following the accusations, documentarian and photographer Sophia Nahli Allison has since said that she quit a project with Lizzo in 2019 after being “treated with such disrespect by her”.

“I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is,” the Academy Award nominee wrote. “I was not protected and was thrown into a shitty situation with little support. My spirit said to run as fast as you fucking can and I’m so grateful I trusted my gut.”

NME has reached out to Lizzo’s representatives for comment.

More recently, it was reported earlier today that Lizzo has hired the lawyer who represented Bill Cosby for her sexual harassment lawsuit. The attorney, Marty Singer, has worked on recent cases against Jonah Hill, Johnny Depp and more.

Additionally, the three dancers have responded to Lizzo’s statement, saying it was “disheartening” to read. “Initially for me it just further deepened my disappointment in regards to how I was feeling and how I was treated,” Williams told Channel 4 in an interview.

“I think the overall theme in all this is that our experiences were our experiences and our traumas were our traumas. In bringing that forward, it feels like it was disregarded completely. It feels like we were made out to be putting out false allegations when that’s not the case.”

The post Lizzo loses over 154,000 Instagram followers amid sexual harassment lawsuit appeared first on NME.