Lizzo clarifies that she's not quitting music, just done feeding 'negative energy'
"What I'm not gonna quit is the joy of my life, which is making music, which is connecting to people," the Grammy winner said in a video posted to Instagram.
Lizzo isn't quitting music after all, despite declaring to the world, "I quit," in a social media post last week.
The "About Damn Time" and "Good as Hell" singer shared a video to her 12.1 million Instagram followers Tuesday to set the record straight. "I wanted to make this video because I just need to clarify when I say, 'I quit,' I mean I quit giving any negative energy attention," Lizzo said in the video.
"What I’m not gonna quit is the joy of my life, which is making music, which is connecting to people, because I know I'm not alone," she continued. "In no way, shape, or form am I the only person experiencing that negative voice that seems to be louder than the positive. If I can just give one person the inspiration or motivation to stand up for themselves and say they quit letting negative people win, negative comments win, then I've done even more than I could've hoped for. With that being said, I'm gonna keep moving forward, I'm gonna keep being me."
In her initial post that went viral Friday, the Grammy winner, 35, ended a lengthy statement with the words "I quit," leading many to presume she was leaving the music industry, or social media, amid her current legal troubles. Last August, three of her former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo, her production company, and her dance captain for alleged sexual harassment, weight-shaming, racial discrimination, and creating a toxic work environment.
"I'm getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet," Lizzo wrote in her Friday post. "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."
In response to Lizzo's "I quit" remark, Los Angeles-based attorney Ron Zambrano issued a statement on behalf of the dancers suing the singer that called her comments "a joke."
"Her latest post is just another outburst seeking attention and trying to deflect from her own failings as she continues to blame everyone else for the predicament she is in," Zambrano said. "Lizzo's legal and public relations strategy is a failure, so she is desperately trying to play the victim."
A spokesperson for Lizzo, Stefan Friedman, fired back at Zambrano in a statement accusing him of "making wild personal attacks that have absolutely nothing to do with the clients who he is supposedly representing."
Meanwhile, Lizzo has continued to make public appearances in the wake of the lawsuit. She came out on stage at an Incubus show in October, she attended the Grammys in February to present SZA with the award for Best R&B Song, she later came out for the Super Bowl, and she posed for photographs at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.
Lizzo also responded to the suit in August by calling the allegations "outrageous."
"I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain," she said in part, adding, "There is nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world. I know what it feels like to be body-shamed on a daily basis and would absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight. I'm hurt but I will not let the good work I've done in the world be overshadowed by this."
In her video Tuesday, Lizzo once again thanked her fans for "the love" that she received. "It means more than you know," she concluded.
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