Ye’s former assistant accuses him of sexual harassment in lawsuit
Ye’s former assistant filed a civil lawsuit against the embattled rapper, accusing him of sexual harassment and failing to pay her millions of dollars before she was wrongfully terminated.
Lauren Pisciotta filed the suit Monday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court for wrongful termination, breach of contract, sexual harassment and hostile work environment, unlawful retaliation, and emotional distress.
She began working for the rapper in 2021 as his executive assistant/personal assistant after collaborating on his clothing line, Yeezy Season 1, and working on his album, Donda, the suit said.
The suit alleges that Ye repeatedly sent her sexually explicit photos and videos, asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life and masturbated in front of her.
The suit says that Pisciotta “did not welcome or encourage these offensive acts, texts, videos and statements” and did not condone his behavior.
In 2022, she was wrongfully terminated, according to the lawsuit.
Ye, who legally changed his name from Kanye West, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The lawsuit details numerous times Ye allegedly sent sexually graphic text messages to Pisciotta, including one incident in which the rapper asked, “Be honest with me … is my d— racist?”
“It is,” the message allegedly read. “This f—ing racist d— of mine. … I’m going to stare at pictures of white woman [sic] with black a—- and beat the s— out of my racist d—. … This ain’t right bro. After 400 years we still at this point.”
Other alleged incidents cited in the suit involved Pisciotta having to deliver sexual enhancement honey to the rapper, and Ye’s over-sharing of his sexual encounters.
The suit says that Ye, on numerous occasions, sent Pisciotta photos of naked or topless women and texted her a video of a model performing oral sex on the rapper.
Ye would ask Pisciotta for a hug, which she repeatedly declined, and would ask her questions about her sex life, the suit alleges.
“Defendant would often tell Plaintiff that he always wanted to have sex with her, and that he held these feelings for a very long time,” the lawsuit says. “Defendant also falsely boasted that he had sex with Plaintiff or would insinuate to his friends, business partners and music and fashion collaborators that he was having sex with Plaintiff.”
On more than one occasion, the rapper allegedly masturbated in front of Pisciotta.
According to the lawsuit, during an overnight flight to Paris, Ye asked Pisciotta to come into his room on the plane so they could talk. The suit accuses Ye of shutting the door and trapping them inside because the door could only be opened from the outside.
While in the room Ye allegedly laid down on the bed and “masturbated under the covers until he fell asleep” while Pisciotta sat in a chair across from him, according to the lawsuit.
She was eventually let out of the room after she texted an employee on the plane, it says.
During another incident, Ye allegedly masturbated while on the phone with Pisciotta after telling her that they needed to discuss business.
Ye “would often ask Plaintiff if she could hear or guess what he was doing,” the suit says.
The lawsuit says that Pisciotta “remained focused on performing her job and she remained as professional as possible” while being subjected to repeated acts of sexual harassment.
The suit also accuses the rapper of failing to properly pay Pisciotta.
It alleges that Ye offered her a salary of $1 million a year, but requested that she be available to him 24/7. Pisciotta, who was making about $1 million a year from her social media, including an OnlyFans account, agreed.
At first, Ye did not have an issue with Pisciotta’s OnlyFans, the suit says. But in 2022, the rapper allegedly told her that he wanted her to be more “God-like” and asked that she delete it. He said he would pay her $1 million in exchange for her removing the account, which Pisciotta agreed to, the suit says. However, she alleges that she never received the money.
In September 2022, the suit says that she was offered a promotion to Chief of Staff and was told that she would receive an additional $3 million. It says that she was supposed to receive the money in a lump sum, but she never got it.
The following month, she was terminated and offered a severance package of $3 million. The suit says she was never paid her severance.
NBC News reached out to Pisciotta for further comment.
This is the latest lawsuit against the rapper, who has faced several suits by former employees of his troubled Christian school, Donda Academy. One suit in April accused him of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories in front of the staff and children while a lawsuit last year claimed that he only fed students sushi and had no classes on the second floor because he was “afraid of stairs.”
The rapper has also come under fire several times for spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric on the platform X.