Kanye West created an app to advertise his rap music, fostering a racist environment with brutal work situations – while his wife, Bianca Censorsent pornographic films to employees that were accessible to minors, according to a new lawsuit.
The bombshell lawsuit, filed in a U.S. district court, named Ye and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulosas defendants.
The lawsuit alleges that Kanye and co. engaged in “forced labor and harsh, inhuman or degrading treatments.”
The two were accused of building false guarantees to pay their adult and minor workers and forcing them to work absurdly long hours, as they were shamelessly mocked with racist jabs and called “new slaves.”
It all started in the spring of 2024, when Ye decided to launch the streaming service app YZYVSN to rival Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music. The lawsuit says Ye wanted to avoid paying those companies to promote his new albums, “Vultures” and “Vultures 2.”
Then, he and Milo allegedly employed a global group of developers made up of several black members, which also included teenagers under the age of 14.
The documents say the team worked primarily remotely, maintaining constant communication with Ye, Milo and their team through digital and online communication apps such as Discord, Zoom and Slack.
In April 2024, the documents say, Milo promised to pay the developer team $120,000 after they completed the app if they agreed to the work situations and didn’t complain.
However, matters soon got worse… the lawsuit says Ye ordered all workers to sign non-disclosure agreements, threatening to fire the smaller ones and refusing to pay them if they didn’t. The smaller builders were also required to sign “volunteer” agreements.
Ye’s white managers, who oversaw international and minority staff, then allegedly used derogatory language to create a hostile work environment.
In group chats, Caucasian managers used harassing language against subordinates regarding their age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and national origin. Some members of the workforce were referred to as “slaves,” while others were referred to as “new slaves.”
The documents say Milo once sent a chat message with a black/brown skin emoji to an African-American employee while calling a young employee a college shooter. Employees were also intimidated into working long hours at night without pay or sleep.
Then, in late April, Ye announced that he was launching an adult film business called “Yeezy Porn,” along with his wife Bianca sending an employee a file-sharing hyperlink containing hardcore sexual exercises, according to the documents. Minors were not protected from watching lewd films while developing Ye’s porn app. Bianca is not named as a defendant.
On May 1, 2024, after an intense rush to deliver the app, the team allegedly provided Ye with one of the completed apps, but it is unclear from the documents which one. Ye and Milo allegedly never paid the employees for their hard work, prompting them to file the lawsuit.
The swimsuit seeks compensation for unpaid wages and overtime, as well as emotional distress.
We’ve reached out to Ye and Milo… so far, no word again.