A federal judge has thrown out the remaining claims in a years-long harassment and discrimination lawsuit against Lizzo’s touring company, marking a full legal victory for the singer.
U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha ruled Tuesday, September 1, that former wardrobe assistant Asha Daniels failed to prove that Lizzo’s Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. had violated any laws during her time on the 2023 European leg of Lizzo’s Special Tour.
Lizzo herself had already been dismissed as an individual defendant back in December 2024, after the court determined Daniels had no standing to sue her personally since her touring and payroll companies were identified as her actual employers.
Daniels first filed suit in September 2023, alleging she endured a “culture of racism and bullying,” along with sexual harassment and disability discrimination, claiming a wardrobe manager once rolled a heavy clothing rack over her foot and pushed her.
In his ruling, Aenlle-Rocha found Daniels hadn’t demonstrated conduct rising to the level of general hostility toward women in the workplace, and rejected her disability discrimination claim, though he acknowledged the injury itself.
“The court does not seek to minimize or disregard the pain plaintiff felt from these injuries… This alleged conduct and these alleged incidents, while inappropriate and unprofessional, fall within the scope of what the Supreme Court has held to be outside the protection of Title VII, part of the ordinary tribulations of the workplace.”
The judge also dismissed Daniels’s racial bias claims, including her accusation that a supervisor had used racial slurs, writing, “There is no evidence to suggest Nomura ever spoke a racial slur or referred to any specific Black person or Black people generally using racially offensive language.”
Lizzo addressed the ruling directly in an Instagram video posted shortly after the decision, standing silently on camera while text overlaid the clip: “Today I am relieved to announce that I have won the case against me and my touring company Big Grrrl Touring. All the ridiculous claims by a wardrobe assistant who worked on tour for less than 3 weeks (including a claim they broke an acrylic nail) have been dismissed. It was all so shocking because I was being sued by someone who admittedly never met me.”
Her attorney, Melissa Y. Glass, called the ruling “a total victory for Lizzo, her touring company and the other defendants,” adding that the case never should have been filed and that they’re “exploring all avenues to enforce our clients’ rights.”
Daniels’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, said he and his client were disappointed by the decision, arguing the judge had “improperly weighed evidence” that should have gone before a jury and had assessed incidents “too narrowly… rather than considering their cumulative impact.”
Daniels’s lawsuit followed a separate, similar suit filed by three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers in 2023, which Lizzo has also denied.
