Lizzo took to social media on Friday afternoon (March 29) to share an emotionally driven statement.
“I’m getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the Internet,” she wrote against an orange and yellow background. “All I want is to make music and make people happy and help the world be a little better than how I found it. But I’m starting to feel like the world doesn’t want me in it.”
She continued, “I’m constantly up against lies being told about me for clout & views… being the butt of the joke every single time because of how I look… my character being picked apart by people who don’t know me and disrespecting my name. I didn’t sign up for this s— — I QUIT [peace out emoji].”
Billboard has reached out to Lizzo’s team to confirm the validity of the statement.
The “About Damn Time” singer has been under scrutiny over the past year, as she’s been involved in a harassment lawsuit brought by three of the “Special” singer’s former dancers in August 2023. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, accuses Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of a wide range of legal wrongdoing and included dozens of pages of detailed allegations.
In one allegation, the lawsuit claims that Lizzo pushed the dancers to attend a sex show in Amsterdam’s famed Red Light District and then pressured them to engage with the performers. The lawsuit also detailed alleged outbursts by Lizzo, including an “excruciating re-audition” in April after she accused the dancers of “drinking alcohol before shows”; one dancer claims the ordeal continued for so long that she wet herself because she feared she would be fired if she left the stage. The case also claims Lizzo repeatedly told dancers “none of their jobs were safe” and raised “thinly veiled concerns” about a dancer’s weight gain.
Lizzo denied the claims in a response shared to Twitter, calling them “false allegations” and “sensationalized stories.” In March, a judge ordered the case “stayed” while Lizzo challenges his January ruling, which largely rejected her efforts to dismiss the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute — a special law that makes it easier to quickly end meritless lawsuits that threaten free speech.
A week ago, Lizzo took to Instagram to reveal that she is working on new music and “almost ready” to “be a normal human again… to be outside.. to love and trust people.. to try and make new friends… to go on live … to sing and talk about my pain and joy… just give me a lil more time.”
She continued, “Thank u for the patience and to the ones who unfollowed thank u too cus now I know where we stand.”