Ye Sued By Former Employees Over Hostile Workplace - Report

UPDATE (July 1):

Milo Yiannopoulos issued a statement to XXL denying the allegations and insisting he tried to ensure staffers get paid for their work when he was chief of staff at Yeezy. Milo resigned from Yeezy in May. The statement reads:

"I've been authorized by Bianca to stress that any allegation that she showed or caused to be shown any pornographic material to minors is offensive, disgusting, abhorrent and categorically and wholly false. The tragic, desperate, attention-seeking wannabe Yeezy staffer behind this egregious and repulsive pack of lies, Shemar DaCosta, has never had any kind of access to Ye, his family, or Yeezy, or any information pertinent to the company, and he never will.

DaCosta, known as 'Hotep Susan' in Yeezy circles for his histrionic and absurd race-baiting, faked an entire job history at Yeezy on his LinkedIn profile—the most tragic and thirsty lie imaginable. He claimed to be a lead developer for Yeezy. He has never worked at Yeezy. Read my lips: He will never, ever, ever land a job at the company after telling such odious lies about the Lady of the House.

There's a simple reason DaCosta's clownish claim—that minors were shown Yeezy Porn—isn't true and can't be true. Yeezy Porn doesn’t exist. I made sure of that by falling on my sword and quitting over it. All I’ve done since is try to get these app developers paid, as voluminous correspondence demonstrates. Anyone asserting otherwise, including many in the press, are lazy or simply dishonest buffoons uncritically repeating mendacious lies from a lawsuit that takes more imaginative leaps than The Lord of the Rings.

Secret white chat rooms? No, the other team just hustled harder than you did. Hostile working environment? How can that be? You were never hired. Minors working illegally? Give me a break. The only minors being taken advantage of are the poor suckers roped into this lawsuit, who have no idea what a pack of lies their names have been attached to. If anyone’s taking advantage of kids, it's Shemar DaCosta and his bozo Instagram lawyer Ben Lockyer, whose area of legal expertise appears to be credulous African Americans with dubious causes of action. Both of them should be ashamed of themselves. And if they’re not now, they soon will be."

ORIGINAL STORY:

Ye is being sued by former employees who have accused the rapper-producer of fostering a hostile work environment and allegedly bullying them to work long hours without pay or sleep.

Ye Sued by Ex-Employees for Hostile Work Environment, Unpaid Wages

According to a Washington Post report, published on Sunday (June 30), a lawsuit was filed on Saturday (June 29) in the United States District Court in California against Ye and his company Yeezy. The lawsuit alleges that during the development of a streaming app earlier this year, Ye created harsh working conditions, bullied staff members and neglected to pay several Yeezy employees.

According to the suit, developers were hired to work on Ye's YZYVSN streaming app to promote Ye's new music projects, Vultures 1 and Vultures 2. However, the eight employees, some of whom are minors, alleged that Ye, along with now former chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos, subjected them to cruel and derogatory behavior by allegedly calling them "slaves" and "new slaves."

In a shocking allegation in the lawsuit, the developers claim minors, as young as 14 years old, were allegedly exposed to pornography in the group chats run by Ye and the Yeezy company. In late April, as Ye started to gather ideas for a "Yeezy Porn" adult film company, Ye's wife, Bianca Censori, allegedly sent one team member a link to "hardcore pornography."

For the record, Milo eventually left Yeezy in May of 2024 due to the company's plan to distribute pornographic material.

In the suit, the developers claimed they were initially promised $120,000 as compensation upon completing the app. However, they were subsequently coerced into signing non-disclosure agreements under the threat of job loss and non-payment of their wages.

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 compensation, neither Ye nor Milo allegedly responded to their requests. Subsequently, the developers had to file a lawsuit.

The Washington Post contacted Ye's attorney, Brian Brumfield, for a comment. When the newspaper asked Milo for a response, the right-wing activist denied the allegations and called the lawsuit "a joke" and "the most dishonest thing I’ve ever seen filed with a court."

Ye Has Been Hit With Several Workplace Lawsuits

Ye has been slapped with several workplace lawsuits from former employees in recent months.

In April of 2024, Benjamin Deshon Provo, a former employee of both Yeezy and Donda Academy, filed a 31-page lawsuit against Ye alleging the Chicago rapper-producer engaged in unfair labor practices and racial discrimination. In his suit, Provo claims he was specifically targeted by Ye because of his Muslim faith and his refusal to convert to Christianity. Provo also alleged that at the direction of Ye, he was given the ultimatum: cut his dreadlocked hair or be fired. Additionally, Provo claimed that Ye unjustifiably reduced his pay and paid him less than his non-Black counterparts.

Meanwhile, another former Yeezy employee, Trevor Phillips, filed a similar lawsuit in April claiming workplace harassment and more as well. He previously worked for Ye's Donda Academy before it was shut down.

In his 42-page lawsuit, Phillips claimed Ye yelled "dangerous rhetoric" in front of Donda Academy students and allegedly told numerous students he wanted them to "shave their heads and that he intended to put a jail at the school," telling them "they could be locked in cages."

Phillips asserts in his suit that Ye often expressed anti-semitic values in front of students and allegedly said in front of parents he "only likes to date White women," while telling employees they'd be fired if anyone got fat.

In the end, Ye faces significant legal challenges with these workplace lawsuits.

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