Lizzo “emphasizes” everything was “consensual” as she defends herself in banana bar lawsuit

Lizzo recently addressed the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against her by three former dancers and shed light on an alleged incident that occurred at a club called Banana Bar in Amsterdam. The Grammy Award-winning artist, 36, opened up about the evening for the first time during an appearance on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast on Thursday, December 19.

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Lizzo describes the night’s events in detail

She told the show’s host that she visited the bar alone where “exotic artists” perform. During the conversation, Lizzo revealed that one of her dancers, who she described as a close “friend,” was at a birthday dinner for one of the backup singers. She shared that the dancer asked her what she planned to do next since, in her opinion, they apparently had “nowhere to go.” So she said, “I thought, ‘What? It’s your birthday. You in Amsterdam. You can’t go anywhere, get through it’”.

Lizzo claimed she didn’t know who would show up after she was invited. She said: “They thought 17 of us wanted to come. I thought, ‘Oh, okay. Pull up.’ “It’s my nature,” as People reports.

The Juice singer added: “Everyone did it. We had a great time. There were moments because the actress is very amicable, but she also performs. So she will ask you. She’ll ask, ‘Do you want to do this?’ Do you want to do that?’ If you say yes, do it. If you say ‘No,’ she says, ‘Okay.’ Moves on.”

The singer revealed that the dynamic “happened all night long.” She added: “There were moments where wild things happened, but everyone had a great time.”

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Lizzo emphasizes that everything was “amicable.”

Lizzo confirmed that there was “no mandatory invitation” to attend and that only two of the three dancers named in the lawsuit were present at the club. She said: “I have to emphasize how amicable it was because this bar has been like this since 1945. If they didn’t do things consensually, they would have been sued.”

However, the attorney representing plaintiffs Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noella Rodriguez in the lawsuit, Rom Zambrano, told People: “There is a complete lack of awareness that Lizzo does not recognize how these young women on her team, who are just starting their careers.” would feel pressured to accept an invitation from their global celebrity boss who rarely hangs out with them. “There is a power dynamic in the boss-employee context that Lizzo completely ignores,” said a statement on Thursday.

He added: “We stand by the allegations in the lawsuit and are prepared to prove everything in court, while Lizzo is on the witness stand under oath in front of a jury of her peers and will not spout nonsense and lies for the sake of failing to do so on a podcast justify taking responsibility.”

The sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Lizzo by three former dancers contains a number of serious allegations, including sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment. The full complaint accuses the Grammy-winning artist of creating a hostile work environment. However, she strongly denied all claims made against her.