Ye, formerly of Kanye West, is once again at the center of a legal dispute. The rapper has been sued by former employees of his Yeezy brand after he was accused in separate and additional lawsuits of sexually harassing a personal assistant and of workplace abuse at his Donda Academy earlier this year.
Attorneys Jordanna Thigpen and Ben Locklyer filed a lawsuit over the weekend in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of eight people, four of whom are minors, who claim to have developed an app for the rapper’s brand. The complaint accuses Ye, Yeezy and the rapper’s former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, of fostering a toxic workplace characterized by racial discrimination, forced labor and failure to pay employees for their work.
A representative for Ye did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment Tuesday.
Far-right political commentator Yiannopoulos denounced the allegations and the “joke lawsuit” in a statement shared Saturday on X (formerly Twitter). He singled out a “disgruntled” accuser and called the complaint “the most dishonest thing I have ever seen brought to court.”
The suit centers on Yeezy’s development of a streaming app, on which West said he would release “Vultures 2,” his upcoming studio album with Ty Dolla Sign. The controversial rapper, who fell out of public favor in recent years for anti-Semitic rants, expressed interest in having his own streaming platform in March. That prompted app developers, including some of the plaintiffs, to reach out to West and his team. In April, Yeezy acquired an app called YZYVSN, and Yiannopoulos promised its developers a $120,000 payment once it was completed, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs, who range in age from 14 to 24 and come from different parts of the world, were required to sign confidentiality agreements and “'voluntary' agreements” as part of the acquisition, the suit says. The developers communicated primarily through channels on Discord, a company-owned group chat service.
The chat was “rife with harassment regarding age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity,” the suit alleges. One Discord channel was allegedly titled “New Slaves” (also the name of a 2013 West song) and “some crew members were referred to as ‘slaves.’”
Yiannopoulos allegedly “perpetuated” racist behavior and “used a black/brown skin emoji” to refer to plaintiff Shemar DaCosta, who is black. Racial slurs and other derogatory terms “were often used to mock, demean, and discriminate against” black and African developers, and junior developers at YZYVSN were also subject to harassment, the suit says. The suit alleges that white developers who also worked at YZYVSN were “secretly promised jobs at Yeezy.”
Additionally, the accusers say they were harassed and threatened with pay if they did not agree to “work long hours without breaks.” Some plaintiffs, who live in different time zones, sacrificed school and personal time to work on the app. Working conditions were particularly grueling during “rush week,” when developers rushed to finish the app before an early May deadline to coincide with the release of Ye’s “Vultures 2.” The app was reportedly completed on May 2, but Ye has yet to release the new album.
YZYVSN app developers, including underage employees, were also exposed to pornography in the company’s Discord chats, the lawsuit says. TMZ reported in late April that Ye was interested in creating his own adult content studio. Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, allegedly sent a YZYVSN developer “a hardcore pornography file-sharing link for the Yeezy Porn app” and pornographic photos were allegedly “openly spread” on Discord.
“Despite having direct knowledge of the toxic, abusive and exploitative work environment, defendants did nothing to stop it or otherwise present it,” the lawsuit says.
Yiannopoulos denied those allegations in a statement posted Monday to X. “Yeezy porn doesn’t exist,” he said. “I made sure of that by giving up on it.”
Yiannopoulos also said he has worked to get developers paid, citing “voluminous correspondence,” and denied allegations of “whites-only” group chats, fostering a hostile workplace (“How can that be? You were never hired”) and taking advantage of underage employees.
The suit alleges that its eight plaintiffs have yet to receive payment or credit for their work on YZYVSN and have also experienced anxiety and depression, among other health issues, as a result of their time working for Yeezy. The suit goes into further detail about each of the plaintiffs and their personal experiences working on the app for Ye. Prior to filing suit, the plaintiffs filed harassment and discrimination complaints with the California Department of Civil Rights, which granted them a “right to sue” letter, the suit says.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and seeking an unspecified amount in damages including legal fees, emotional distress, unpaid wages and overtime.
“We believe a jury will agree that these employers should be held accountable,” Thigpen said in a statement to The Times.
