Six months before Lizzo was accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment in a lawsuit by three former dancers, the Los Angeles Times reports that 14 dancers who appeared in her 2022 documentary received a settlement related to a different dispute. According to interviews with sources close to the dancers (who were not the same ones behind the recent lawsuit) and documents viewed by Los Angeles Times, the dancers objected to “intimate footage” of them that appeared in the documentary, and a lack of compensation. They say they weren’t offered a contract for any behind-the-scenes footage, which was non-union, as opposed to the union contract they worked under for the VMAs.
In an email viewed by The Times, the dancers’ manager, Slay Smiles, wrote, “After seeing all of the videos, I’m sure you realize how sensitive and private the dialogue was for the talent involved. This was supposed to be a safe space to express and share with the Principal talent [Lizzo], so by sharing this unauthorized footage to the public without their approval/permissions, has truly exploited these women and violated the emotional safety they had in those moments.”
Alan Brunswick, an attorney for documentary co-producer Boardwalk Pictures, told the Times that the backstage footage “was captured openly,” saying, “They all knew the cameras were there. I don’t think the documentary was even contemplated at that point.”
According to copies of documents viewed by the Times, Boardwalk Pictures, a representative for Lizzo and others settled with the dancers in February. Martin Singer, Lizzo’s attorney, said that she “had nothing to do with it and knew nothing about it.”
Read the full report on the Los Angeles Times.
Lizzo has not publicly addressed this settlement, but she denied the allegations against her from the more recent lawsuit, calling them “outrageous” and “false.”