What was the Lizzo Postmates lawsuit about?

With the recent news of Lizzo‘s backup dancers suing the “Truth Hurts” singer for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, many are changing their perspective on the star. Traditionally known as being more personable and down-to-Earth, Lizzo fans express their disdain for the news that their idol might not be who they thought she was. But this isn’t the first time she was pulled into a scandalous lawsuit.

Even in a pre-pandemic world, food delivery apps were a huge hit in many major metropolitan areas. Everything from Doordash to Postmates was available for use in the majority of U.S. towns. That being said, there were still plenty of instances of poor customer service from the drivers. Whether it be drivers messing with food or not even delivering it altogether, people had plenty of complaints about their drivers.

Enter the plaintiff in the Lizzo Postmates lawsuit, Tiffany Wells. Wells was a Postmates driver who typically worked in the Boston area. On Sept. 16, 2019, Wells picked up a delivery order for a customer named “Bonnie V.” from Luke’s Lobster. She was to deliver said order to the Revere Hotel in Boston, but the customer did not provide a room number to deliver to.

When Wells arrived at the hotel, she tried contacting the customer via the phone number provided. After multiple calls to said phone number with no response, Wells asked the hotel staff if Bonnie W. was staying at the hotel that evening. When she was told there was no guest under that name, Wells waited around an additional 5 minutes to ensure the customer didn’t try to reach out to her, then left the hotel. According to the suit, Wells spent over 10 minutes trying to contact the customer.

The following day, Wells was alerted by friends and family to a tweet made by Lizzo bashing her for not delivering her food. The now-deleted tweet had a photo of Wells and wrote, “Hey @Postmates, this girl Tiffany W. stole my food; she lucky I don’t fight no more.” Wells was not only shocked to see such a high-profile figure tweeting about her but also tweeting out an image of her as well.

The replies to Lizzo’s tweet were full of fans threatening violence towards Wells and overall bashing her. After the tweet was sent out, Wells stopped delivering for Postmates out of fear for her safety.

Lizzo tweeted an apology after recognizing she was in the wrong for doxxing Wells as she did and deleted the tweet. However, the damage was already done from the initial tweet. As a result, Wells filed the lawsuit against Lizzo, as she “became fearful that someone may recognize her if she continued to deliver for Postmates,” according to the claim.

The lawsuit was formally dismissed by Wells back in Feb. 2021, and no additional action has been taken by either party. Nevertheless, Lizzo’s handling of the situation left a bad taste in some fans’ mouths and is being resurfaced thanks to the latest lawsuit against the singer.