When Asha Daniels filed her illegal retaliatory termination, racial and sexual harassment lawsuit against Lizzo and her touring team in September, the Grammy winner bashed the action by her former tour wardrobe designer as “a bogus, absurd publicity-stunt.” Now, the ‘Truth Hurts” singer and her Big Grrl Big Touring, Inc. want a state judge to toss the matter out.
Staking their December 15 filed demurrer in LA Superior Court on Daniels having no right to utilize California laws while working for a Delaware corporation in Europe, the document from Marty Singer’s firm rips “Plaintiff, a New York resident” for her “meritless and salacious action after less than three weeks of employment by BGBT” (bold and italics theirs).
“During her brief employment by BGBT, Plaintiff refused to comply with instructions from her supervisors and tour management, failed to perform the work that she was assigned and, eventually, just played hooky and refused to show up for work,” the motion states of what they say really went down during Daniels’ February 14, 2023 to March 6, 2023 stint on Lizzo’s The Special Tour. “Unsurprisingly, she was terminated after abandoning her post on the day of a concert in Paris, France,” the filing adds of the March 5 gig at Accor Arena in the City of Light’s 12th arrondissement (read Lizzo’s motion to have Daniels case tossed out here).
Filed on the same day that Lizzo received the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award from the Black Music Action Coalition, Daniels’ legal action of September 21 cited a “toxic work environment” and a “culture of racism and bullying on Lizzo’s tour.”
Damning allegations in any context, Daniels complaint also came about seven weeks after ex-tour dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez sued Lizzo, BGBT and others for harassment, assault and discrimination. Six months before that trio took to the courts, it has since been revealed that 14 dancers who performed with Lizzo were part of a more than $100,000 settlement related to unauthorized use of their image in the 2022 documentary Love, Lizzo.
Today, Daniels’ attorney Ron Zambrano, who is part of the firm also representing Davis, Williams and Rodriguez, accused Lizzo’s lawyers of victim shaming, again.
“This motion was expected and is yet another Hail Mary by Lizzo’s team to try to shift blame to the victims, as she has done to the three other plaintiffs who have sued her for similar allegations of harassment, disability discrimination and retaliatory termination,” the West Coast Entertainment Lawyers partner said in a statement. “Lizzo and her lawyers can continue trying to rationalize her illegal and wretched conduct, but we remain committed to seeking justice for our clients and look forward to our day in court where Lizzo can explain her behavior in a public forum.”
That day could be coming early next year. Lizzo’s Lavely & Singer team are requesting a January 24, 2024 hearing on their demurrer motion in front on LASC Judge Mark H. Epstein at the Santa Monica Courthouse.
Lizzo’s attorneys filed a quickly contested anti-SLAPP motion on October 27 to have Davis, Williams and Rodriguez’s suit dismissed. At the conclusion of November 22 hearing on the motion, Judge Epstein said he wouldn’t be issuing a ruling for at least three weeks – and he still hasn’t.
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