Kanye Sued By Former Employees Over Working Conditions

Kanye West's former Yeezy employees are suing the rapper and fashion designer over working conditions.

According to a lawsuit filed over the weekend in California obtained by The Washington Post, Ye and his fashion line are being accused of creating harsh labor conditions, bullying staff members, and neglecting to pay a number of Yeezy employees during the development of a streaming app earlier this year.

Eight employees filed a lawsuit against Ye. Some are minors, and they allege that Ye and the then-chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, and the Yeezy company did not pay team members for long working hours and subjected them to cruel and derogatory behavior, calling them “slaves” and “new slaves.” The lawsuit also alleges that Ye, Yiannopoulos, and the company exposed them to pornographic images in what they described to be a "hostile work environment."

Yiannopoulos denied the allegations on X (formerly Twitter), calling the lawsuit “a joke” and “the most dishonest thing I’ve ever seen filed with a court." As we previously reported, Yiannopoulos quit Yeezy due to alleged major issues over the formation of “Yeezy Porn,” conflicting with his moral and religious stance.

According to the latest lawsuit, problems arose when Ye aimed to create his own streaming service app, YZYVSN, to help promote the May release of his album, Vultures 2. The Yeezy company acquired the app made by developers as young as 14 years old, the lawsuit claims.

The former employees are seeking payment for unpaid wages and attorney fees, as well as damages for emotional distress. This lawsuit is the latest accusation from former employees of Ye, who is facing several other lawsuits.

Per Washington Post, the lawsuit said: “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." He also allegedly called employees "slaves" and "new slaves." Racial slurs were used to demean Black team members, and only White team members were promised developer jobs at Yeezy, according to the lawsuit.

As we [inlink id="kanye-alleged-vile-texts-ex-assistant" text="previously reported, the father of four was accused of sending alleged vile texts to his former personal assistant. Documents accused Ye, 47, of wrongful termination, sexual harassment—quid pro quo and hostile environment—unlawful retaliation, unpaid wages, and gender discrimination.

He allegedly sent the following in a text to the former assistant: “Is my d— racist? It is. This f—ing racist d of mine. I going to beat this f—ing racist d— for being f—ing racist. I’m going to stare at pictures of white woman with black a–es and beat the s— out of my racist d— … Beating the s— out of his big black c—.”