Kanye West created an app to advertise his rap music, fostering a racist setting with brutal work situations – whereas his spouse, Bianca Censori, despatched porn movies to employees 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 employees, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The swimsuit alleges Kanye and co. engaged in “pressured labor and merciless inhuman, or degrading remedy.”
The 2 had been accused of creating 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 referred to 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 global 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 group through the use of digital and on-line communication functions reminiscent of 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 situations and did not complain.
However issues rapidly went downhill … the swimsuit says Ye ordered all staff to signal non-disclosure agreements, threatening to fireside 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 overseas and minority staff 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 group members had been referred to 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 group member, whereas calling a youthful employee a college shooter. The staff had been additionally bullied into working lengthy hours by way of the night time with out pay or sleep.
Then, in late April, Ye introduced he was launching an grownup movie biz referred to 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 is just not named as a defendant.
On Might 1, 2024, after an intense rush interval to provide the app, the group allegedly offered Ye with one of many completed apps, nevertheless it’s not clear within the docs which one. Ye and Milo allegedly by no means paid the workers for his or her exhausting work, main them to file the lawsuit.
The swimsuit is asking for damages for unpaid wages and additional time pay, in addition to emotional misery.
We have reached out to Ye and Milo … thus far no phrase again.