Ye Sued By Former Employees Over Hostile Workplace – Report

June 30, 2024 4

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 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.

The developers stated they primarily worked on the app remotely, maintaining communication through Slack and other collaborative tools. They maintained they worked long hours on the app before its impending completion deadline of May 1, 2024. 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.