The Latest Lizzo Lawsuit
This Weeks Wacky Wednesday The Latest Lizzo Lawsuit
A singer named Lizzo has found herself at the center of a lawsuit. A woman named Tiffany Wells, who worked for the online delivery service Postmates, sued Lizzo in the Central District of California. The federal lawsuit was filed for an invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and libel. So, how did this latest Lizzo fiasco happen?
It began when Lizzo sent out a tweet that said: “Hey, @Postmates this Tiffany W. stole my food she lucky I don’t fight no more.” In the tweet, she also posted a photo of the delivery driver. The following day, the tweet was removed, and Lizzo issued an apology for having posted it in the first place. However, the harm was already done.
What Happened to the Food?
It appears as though Ms. Wells did try to do her job. She received the order and went to the restaurant to pick up the food. It was supposed to be delivered to a woman named Bonnie V. who was staying at the Revere Hotel in Boston. However, the customer did not provide a room number for the delivery. Wells says that she tried to call the number provided by the customer several times, but it was never answered. She also talked with the front desk regarding whether they had someone with the name of the customer staying at the hotel. The hotel said that they did not have anyone staying there with that name.
Postmates will generally provide a five-minute grace period for the customer to show up. However, Lizzo never showed up to pick up her food. The driver ended up spending more than 10 minutes trying to get in touch but to no avail. Because there were other deliveries that had to be made, she left. Postmates agreed that this was the proper thing to do according to their policies.
In most cases, that would have been the end of it. The customer might have contacted Postmates to ask what had happened, and it would have normally been dealt with at that point. However, the tweet that Lizzo put out had gained a lot of traction because of her large following.
Lizzo’s tweet ended up doing some damage to Wells’ reputation, and she says that there were responses to the tweet that threatened violence against her. Because she was worried about her safety, she ended up no longer working with Postmates.
What If Your Food Never Arrives?
This should be a lesson to everyone, even if they do not have a large following on Twitter or other social media. Instead of immediately hopping online and blaming a person for something for which there is no real evidence, it is better to get in touch with the company in question to see what happened. Most of the time, they will offer a second delivery right away, or they will provide a refund and even offer credits to the account. Talking with the people in charge of the company will end up causing far fewer problems than angrily tweeting.
Other Lizzo Lawsuits
Lizzo is no stranger to lawsuits. It was in October of 2019 that she settled a suit brought against her with a user on Twitter than accused her of stealing a tweet and then putting that tweet into a song. Lizzo also brought a lawsuit against three men who said that she had plagiarized them.
What is going to happen in the case of this Postmates driver and Lizzo? Only time and the judge will be able to say for sure, but it will be interesting to watch. It could indicate larger changes in what types of social media outbursts from people could be actionable.