Kanye West has found himself involved in multiple lawsuits over the past couple of years — including those related to Donda Academy and payment to Ye’s former manager — and as the rapper and wife Bianca Censori work to evolve and grow their businesses together, the legal issues haven’t really slowed down. Now he is being sued by former employees who were developing a streaming service app, as they accuse West of allegedly “fostering a racist environment” and referring to some of them as “new slaves.” Censori is not named in the lawsuit, but she too is in hot water for reportedly sending an explicit video to employees, including minors.
Kanye West Sued For Nonpayment And Emotional Distress
A group of international developers was reportedly hired by Kanye West and Milo Yiannopoulos — who resigned from Yeezy when West got into the porn business — to develop a YZYVSN streaming app to promote his Vultures albums. According to court documents, Yiannopoulos promised $120,000 upon completion of the work, TMZ reports, but when the remote employees asked for their payment, they say neither West nor Yiannopoulos responded. The filing asks for complete payment of unpaid wages, overtime compensation and emotional distress damages incurred from the employers’ alleged racist behavior. An excerpt from the lawsuit reads (per NBC):
Black and African employees were segregated and given less favorable work assignments and separate ‘whites only’ working groups were formed.
The work was done primarily remotely, according to reports, with white managers allegedly overseeing employees, including teenagers as young as 14, from the United States, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Nigeria. After being hired, all of the workers were reportedly forced to sign nondisclosure agreements, with the minors required to sign “volunteer” agreements agreeing to receive no pay.
The lawsuit alleges that some employees were referred to as “slaves” or “new slaves,” and disparaging language was used in group chats that referred to their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin. Examples of harassing language were listed in the court documents as Milo Yiannopoulous sending a dark-skinned emoji to a Black team member and calling one of the minors a school shooter. It’s also alleged the employees were bullied into working “insanely long hours” through the night without sleep.
Bianca Censori Accused Of Sending Out ‘Hardcore’ Porn
While not named as a defendant, Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori has been accused of sending X-rated videos to the workers. It was reported back in April that Ye wanted to break into the porn industry, and Censori reportedly sent “one worker a file-sharing link containing hardcore sexual activity” to be used in the development of the YZYVSN app. The court docs read (per Washington Post):
No guardrails were put in place to prevent the underage YZYVSN workers from working on Yeezy Porn, or to prevent them from being exposed to and being forced to view pornography to perform their work.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of Kanye West being sued for harassment in June, after alleged vulgar texts to a former employee came to light. However, Ye’s lawyers have threatened to file a countersuit, claiming the employee is merely attempting to gain money and notoriety. As the rapper remains embroiled in so many lawsuits, we’ll have to see how this latest one plays out.
