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Hollywood Unlocked
Kanye West Faces New Lawsuit: Accused Of ‘Forced Labor And Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment,’ Staff Allegedly Called ‘New Slaves,’ Bianca Censori Allegedly Sent Porn Accessible To Adult And Minor Staff
By Ariela Anís,
22 days ago
Getty Images
Kanye West is facing yet another lawsuit now accusing him of “forced labor and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment,’ and calling staff “new slaves,” in addition to his wife Bianca Censori allegedly sending porn to adult and minor staff. According to TMZ , a new lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court named Kanye West and his former chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos , accusing them both of engaging in “forced labor and cruel inhuman, or degrading treatment.”
TMZ reports that the lawsuit accuses Kanye West, Milo Yiannopoulos, and their team of “making false promises to pay their adult and minor employees and forcing them to work insanely long hours,” in addition to mocking them with racist jabs and calling them “New Slaves.” All the alleged issues reportedly began in Spring 2024 when Ye launched the YZYVSN streaming service app — reportedly as a rival to Tidal, Spotify, and Apple Music as he allegedly didn’t want to pay those companies to promote his new albums ‘ Vultures ’ and ‘ Vultures 2 .’
To create the new app, Ye and Yiannopoulos allegedly hired an international developer group, made up of many Black employees as young as age 14. According to the alleged documents, the employees mostly worked remotely but kept communication with Ye, Yiannopoulos, and their team using digital and online communication platforms like Discord, Zoom, and Slack.
In April 2024, Yiannopoulos allegedly promised to pay $120,000 to the developer group upon completing the app, and if they agreed to work conditions and didn’t complain. However, the alleged lawsuit claims things were bad and that Kanye West allegedly ordered all employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), threatened to fire the minors, and refused to pay everyone if they didn’t sign. It’s reported that the minors were also required to sign “volunteer” agreements.
TMZ also reports that the alleged lawsuit claims Ye’s White managers who oversaw the foreign and minority workers allegedly “used disparaging language” in alleged group chats “to create a hostile work environment,” attacking their age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and national origin. Some of Kanye West’s employees were also allegedly called “slaves,” and others “new slaves.”
Per the alleged docs, Yiannopoulos allegedly sent one message with a Black/brown-skin emoji to an African American employee, while calling a minor staffer a “school shooter.” The staff also claims they were bullied into working long hours through the night without pay or sleep.
The lawsuit also timelines late April 2024 when Kanye West revealed he was planning to launch an adult film business called “Yeezy Porn,” with his wife Bianca Censori, one employee claimed she sent them a file-sharing link filled with hardcore sexual activity. The alleged suit claims the minor staff were not protected from viewing the adult content as they developed Ye’s porn app.
The alleged docs further claim that on May 1, 2024, following an “intense rush period” to get the app up and running, the foreign developer team claims they presented their half-finished work to Ye, and alleged that he nor Yiannopoulos paid them for their work thus far, resulting in the new lawsuit — which seeks damages for unpaid wages, overtime pay, and emotional distress.
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