Kanye West created an app to advertise his rap music, fostering a racist setting with brutal work circumstances – whereas his spouse, Bianca Censori, despatched porn movies to workers which had been accessible by minors, in keeping with a brand new lawsuit.
The bombshell swimsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court docket, named Ye and his former chief of workers, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The swimsuit alleges Kanye and co. engaged in “pressured labor and merciless inhuman, or degrading therapy.”
The 2 had been accused of constructing false guarantees to pay their grownup and minor staff and forcing them to work insanely lengthy hours as they had been overtly mocked with racist jabs and known as “New Slaves.”
It began within the Spring of 2024 when Ye determined to launch the YZYVSN streaming service app to rival Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music. The swimsuit says Ye needed to keep away from paying these corporations to advertise his new albums, “Vultures” and “Vultures 2.”
So, he and Milo allegedly employed a world developer group comprised of a number of Black members, which additionally included underage teenagers as younger as 14.
The docs say the workers largely labored remotely, staying in fixed communication with Ye, Milo and their staff by utilizing digital and on-line communication functions similar to Discord, Zoom and Slack.
In April 2024, the docs say, Milo promised to pay $120,000 to the developer group after they accomplished the app and in the event that they agreed to the work circumstances and did not complain.
However issues rapidly went downhill … the swimsuit says Ye ordered all staff to signal non-disclosure agreements, threatening to fireplace the minors and refusing to pay them in the event that they did not. Minor builders had been additionally required to signal “volunteer” agreements.
Then Ye’s white managers who oversaw the international and minority employees allegedly used disparaging language to create a hostile work setting.
In group chats, the Caucasian managers used harassing language towards the underlings with reference to their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and nationwide origin. Some staff members had been known as “slaves” whereas others had been known as “new slaves.”
The docs say Milo as soon as despatched a chat message with a Black/brown pores and skin emoji to an African American staff member, whereas calling a youthful employee a college shooter. The staff had been additionally bullied into working lengthy hours by the evening with out pay or sleep.
Then, in late April, Ye introduced he was launching an grownup movie biz known as “Yeezy Porn,” together with his spouse Bianca sending one employee a file-sharing hyperlink containing hardcore sexual exercise, in keeping with the docs. The minors weren’t shielded from viewing the smut movies as they developed Ye’s porn app. Bianca isn’t named as a defendant.
On Could 1, 2024, after an intense rush interval to supply the app, the staff allegedly offered Ye with one of many completed apps, but it surely’s not clear within the docs which one. Ye and Milo allegedly by no means paid the workers for his or her onerous work, main them to file the lawsuit.
The swimsuit is asking for damages for unpaid wages and extra time pay, in addition to emotional misery.
We have reached out to Ye and Milo … thus far no phrase again.