Kanye West is facing a lawsuit from his former assistant over allegations of sexual harassment and wrongful termination, including allegations that he masturbated in front of her.
In a complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles court, Lauren Pisciotta claims she faced a “systematic” onslaught of “illegal harassment” during the year she worked for the embattled rapper, first as an executive assistant and later as his companies' chief of staff.
Pisciotta says West frequently sent her sexual texts, including photos and videos of him having sex with other women, and that he repeatedly propositioned her for sex.
“The defendant frequently told the plaintiff that he had always wanted to have sex with her and that he had harbored those feelings for a long time,” Pisciotta's lawyers wrote. “The defendant also falsely bragged that he had sex with the plaintiff or would hint to his friends, associates and music and fashion associates that he had sex with the plaintiff.”
In one particularly graphic allegation, Pisciotta alleges that West locked her in a room during a private jet flight and laid on a bed in front of her: “The plaintiff sat in a chair across from the defendant. he masturbated under the covers until he fell asleep. The plaintiff was unable to leave as the door was locked and jammed behind her.'
A representative for West, who is now legally called Ye, did not immediately return a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, West hired Pisciotta in July 2021 after they met while she was working on his fashion line. He says he agreed to work with him as a “full-time employee” in exchange for a salary of $1 million.
At the time she was hired, Pisciotta says she ran a successful page on OnlyFans – a social networking site where subscribers can pay to access sexual content from individual creators. Pisciotta says the page generated more than $1 million a year, and West “had no problem or objection to that” when she was hired.
But a year later, she says West told her he wanted to be “like God” and asked her to delete the page in exchange for a promise to pay $1 million. Although she agreed to do so, her lawyers claim she saw none of the money: “You never paid the plaintiff as promised.”
Pisciotta's lawsuit came with pages of texts allegedly sent by West, many of which were sexually graphic. In one, she allegedly sent a video of herself having sex, then asked him “What do you think of this video.” In another, he referred to a previous outing at a bowling alley: “Just going back to the bowling alley and thinking about what the title could have been,” the rapper wrote in one of the alleged texts. “You got arrested for busting his assistant on the bowling floor.”
In another incident, the lawsuit says West told a male visitor that he could have sex with Pisciotta in exchange for allowing West to have sex with another woman.
In October 2022, Pisciotta says she was fired, shortly after she was promoted to chief of staff and offered a huge raise. Although she was reportedly offered $3 million in severance pay, she claims West and his companies later “reneged on their commitment to pay the severance.”
In technical terms, the lawsuit includes claims for breach of contract, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination, fraud and various other labor law violations.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/kanye-west-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-former-assistant/
