🧑🏿‍🎤 The Lizzo lawsuit

Happy Friday! It’s August 4 — people are talking about the Lizzo lawsuit, the recent “brotox” trend (botox for men), and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

🧑🏿‍🎤 In the news: The Lizzo lawsuit

Lizzo’s former dancers are suing her for all kinds of abuse. Lizzo denies it — and people don't know who to believe.

🧑🏿‍🎤 Slate: 3 former dancers are suing Lizzo for workplace harassment — including sexual harassment, racism, and weight discrimination.

🧑🏿‍🎤 Lizzo says she's done nothing wrong. Vogue explains her defense: She doesn't want to be seen as a villain in this, but she's not a victim either. And she respects women — especially fat women.

🧑🏿‍🎤 Outkick says Lizzo is a hypocrite. How are you going to be outspokenly anti-bullying and body-positive, and then turn around and fat-shame people?

🧑🏿‍🎤 But this Twitter user believes Lizzo — people who are fired tend to be bitter. And besides, nothing has hit the courts yet, so we have no hard evidence.

💉 Cultural trend: The rise of brotox

"Brotox" is botox for men, and it's on the rise. Is that good or bad? And is it safe?

💉"Brotox" is the name for botox for men. Fortune says it's more common than ever, probably because there’s less stigma. The pandemic helped too.

💉 Tiege says it looks great and boosts confidence, but it's costly and the side effects are scary — ranging from from headaches to breathing issues to death.

💉 Harper’s Bazaar worries about a rise in self-esteem issues. The more common "tweakments" like brotox become, the more wrinkles and normal facial flaws will stand out as negative. We're perfect as-is!

💉American Society of Plastic Surgeons says it's worth it, but be aware that men usually need more botox than women. There's no shame in wanting to look great.

Quick hits from today & yesterday

🚓 Six former police officers from Mississippi pleaded guilty to a violent assault on two Black men. (AP News)

🏛️ An appeals court ruled that Biden's asylum policy could stay in place while the administration appeals a different ruling that blocked the policy. (CNN)

⚓ Two California-based Navy sailors were arrested for passing military secrets to Chinese agents. (Reuters)

🏛️ Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four charges related to the 2020 election. His first hearing is set for August 28. (NYT)

That’s it for today! Reply at [email protected] with your takes, topic suggestions, or anything at all. Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We’d love to hear what you think.