At the height of her career, Lizzo was riding a wave that few artists reach. A Grammy win for Record of the Year, a successful world tour, and a level of cultural visibility that made her one of the most recognizable names in pop music. Then, in August 2023, three of her former backup dancers filed a lawsuit that shifted the conversation entirely.
Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez accused Lizzo of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Among the most striking allegations was the claim that Lizzo fat-shamed Davis and ultimately fired her because of weight gain, a charge that cut particularly deep given Lizzo’s longtime public commitment to body positivity. A second allegation claimed that Lizzo pressured a dancer into touching a woman’s exposed breast during a night out in Amsterdam’s Red Light District in February 2023.
In December 2025, a judge dismissed several of the lawsuit’s central claims, including the fat-shaming accusation. The Amsterdam allegation, however, remains active and continues to move through the courts.
A deliberate choice not to settle
Despite the length and cost of the legal fight, Lizzo made clear in a recent interview on CBS Mornings with Gayle King that walking away through a settlement was never something she seriously considered. She acknowledged that putting the matter behind her financially would have been straightforward, but said the principle at stake made that option unacceptable.
She told King that she took the fat-shaming accusation particularly seriously given what her public identity means to her fans and to a broader conversation around self-acceptance and body image. Seeing that specific allegation dismissed by the court was meaningful to her, but she made clear she is not finished fighting the remaining claims.
If the case proceeds to trial, Lizzo said she is fully prepared to testify. Her tone in the interview was resolute rather than defensive. She pushed back on the way the story has been covered, suggesting that media framing has made the situation appear more damaging than what the underlying facts actually support.
New music and a moment of reclamation
The CBS Mornings appearance came alongside the release of Lizzo’s new single Bitch, the lead track from her upcoming album of the same name, set for release on June 5. The song, produced by Ricky Reed, Blake Slatkin, and Zack Sekoff, samples two earlier works that helped reframe a once-derogatory word into something with a different kind of charge. Meredith Brooks used it in her 1997 anthem and Missy Elliott gave it another dimension entirely in her own track.
Lizzo described both artists as having moved the word forward in a way that added power to it rather than diminishing it. The new single appears to be doing something similar, arriving at a moment when Lizzo is publicly refusing to shrink, either in the courtroom or on the radio.
The timing is deliberate. Three years into a legal battle that has complicated her public image, Lizzo is choosing visibility over quiet. She is releasing music, sitting for major interviews, and telling anyone who will listen that she is not afraid of what a trial might bring into the open. Whether that confidence is vindicated will ultimately be decided by a jury, but for now, Lizzo appears to be treating the moment as one more opportunity to define herself on her own terms.
