Kanye West Sued By Former Employees He Allegedly Called “New Slaves”

MEGA/GC Images/Getty Images

Kanye West is being sued by a group of former employees, who accuse him and former chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos of “fostering a racist environment” and forcing employees to work “insanely long hours.”

According to TMZ, the filing was by developers hired to work on West’s YZYVSN streaming service app, which he wanted to use to promote his new albums, “Vultures” and “Vultures 2.”

They were reportedly promised $120,000 in pay if they “completed the app.”

However, they were later forced to sign nondisclosure agreements under the threat of losing their jobs and not being paid. Meanwhile, some employees who were minors were required to sign “volunteer” agreements. Those indicated they would receive no pay for their work.

The developers mostly worked on the app remotely, staying in touch via Slack and other tools. They were trying to meet a May 1, 2024 deadline for completing the app.

When they asked for their pay, neither West nor Yiannopoulos allegedly responded to their requests. That led to the lawsuit.

The former employees are asking for the complete payment of their unpaid wages and compensation for overtime. They are also asking for emotional distress damages they allegedly suffered.

In the documents, the developers alleged that they were openly “mocked with racist jabs.” They also alleged that some of their colleagues were called “slaves” and “new slaves” during interactions.

West’s wife, Bianca Censori, was alleged to have sent “one worker a file-sharing link containing hardcore sexual activity,” which allegedly was to be used for the development of West’s porn app. .

The lawsuit comes several weeks after Yiannopoulos resigned from Yeezy because of West’s porn studio project.

West has not publicly commented on the lawsuit. Deadline has reached out to his representatives.