Kanye West created an app to promote his rap music, fostering a racist environment with brutal work conditions – while his wife, Bianca Censori, sent porn videos to staff which were accessible by minors, according to a new lawsuit.
The bombshell suit, filed in a U.S. District Court, named Ye and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The suit alleges Kanye and co. engaged in “forced labor and cruel inhuman, or degrading treatment.”
The two were accused of making false promises to pay their adult and minor employees and forcing them to work insanely long hours as they were openly mocked with racist jabs and called “new slaves.”
It all started in the Spring of 2024 when Ye decided to launch the YZYVSN streaming service app to rival Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music. The suit says Ye wanted to avoid paying those companies to promote his new albums, “Vultures” and “Vultures 2.”
So, he and Milo allegedly hired an international developer group comprised of several Black members, which also included underage teens as young as 14.
The docs say the employees mostly worked remotely, staying in constant communication with Ye, Milo and their team by using digital and online communication applications such as Discord, Zoom and Slack.
In April 2024, the docs say, Milo promised to pay $120,000 to the developer group after they completed the app if they agreed to the work conditions and didn’t complain.
But things quickly went downhill … the suit says Ye ordered all employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, threatening to fire the minors and refusing to pay them if they didn’t. Minor developers were also required to sign “volunteer” agreements.
Then Ye’s white managers who oversaw the foreign and minority workers allegedly used disparaging language to create a hostile work environment.
In group chats, the Caucasian managers used harassing language toward the underlings in regards to their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin. Some team members were called “slaves” while others were referred to as “new slaves.”
The docs say Milo once sent a chat message with a Black/brown skin emoji to an African American team member, while calling a younger worker a school shooter. The employees were also bullied into working long hours through the night without pay or sleep.
Then, in late April, Ye announced he was launching an adult film biz called “Yeezy Porn,” with his wife Bianca sending one worker a file-sharing link containing hardcore sexual activity, according to the docs. The minors were not shielded from viewing the smut videos as they developed Ye’s porn app. Bianca is not named as a defendant.
On May 1, 2024, after an intense rush period to produce the app, the team allegedly presented Ye with one of the finished apps, but it’s not clear in the docs which one. Ye and Milo allegedly never paid the employees for their hard work, leading them to file the lawsuit.
The suit is asking for damages for unpaid wages and overtime pay, as well as emotional distress.
We’ve reached out to Ye and Milo … so far no word back.
