Lizzo’s dance captain has responded to a lawsuit in which she is named as a co-defendant by three former backup dancers.
via: Radar Online
Shirlene Quigley has demanded the lawsuit brought by three former dancers accusing her of pushing her religious beliefs on the employees while oversharing about her sex life be dismissed.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, days after Lizzo demanded the suit be tossed, Quigley has responded to the accusations.
As we previously reported, earlier this year, Lizzo’s dancers Arianna Davis, Noelle Rodriguez and Crystal Williams sued the musician and Quigley for an alleged hostile work environment.
The dancers said they worked for Lizzo from 2021 to 2023. The trio said they were unjustly fired or forced to resign to due to working conditions.
In the lawsuit, the women claimed Lizzo forced them to attend nude shows in Amsterdam and Paris. While at the show, Lizzo allegedly pressured the dancers to touch the performers.
The women accused Lizzo of being a terror behind the scenes. They said she often threatened to fire them.
Quigley was accused of creating a “sexually charged and uncomfortable” work environment for the dancers.
The dancers sued Quigley for religious and sexual harassment.
The women said Quigley was “not only vocal about her religious belief but took every opportunity to proselytize to any and all in her presence regardless of protestations.”
Davis said Quigley became overbearing after learning Davis was a virgin.
The suit read, “Ms. QUIGLEY discovered that Ms. DAVIS was a virgin and Ms. DAVIS’s virginity became a topic of extreme importance to Ms. QUIGLEY. In the months to follow, Ms. QUIGLEY would routinely bring up Ms. DAVIS’s virginity in conversations with Ms. DAVIS. Ms. QUIGLEY even mentioned Ms. DAVIS’s virginity in interviews she participated in and later posted to social media, broadcasting an intensely personal detail about Ms. DAVIS to the world. Ms. DAVIS never gave Ms. QUIGLEY permission to share this private detail about Ms. DAVIS’s life.”
The dancer said despite speaking about her religion constantly, Quigley often talked about what she did in the bedroom.
The dancers said Quigley simulated “oral sex on a banana in front of the rest of the dance cast.”
“These instances were always unprompted and made plaintiffs uncomfortable,” the lawsuit read.
The suit said Quigley opposed “pre-marital sex” but had “no problem sharing her masturbatory habits with the dance cast, often stating things to the effect, ‘Masturbating is against my religion, but today I had an oopsie.’”
“[Shirlene’s] sexually explicit comments were so pervasive the entire dance team knew about her sexual fantasy of having ten penises in her face,” the lawsuit added.
Rodriguez accused the dance captain of labeling her a “non-believer” for not sharing the same religious beliefs.
Now, in her newly filed answer, Quigley has denied all allegations filed in the lawsuit. She argued she cannot be held liable because the dancers consented to her actions.
The dance captain said any decision on the women being let go were “undertaken for legitimate reasons reasonably related to one of more lawful business purpose.”
Quigley also said her actions were justified.
The dance captain asked that the dancers not be awarded a dime in their lawsuit.
