Ye and his company allegedly referred to Black and underage employees as "new slaves" according to a shocking lawsuit.
On Sunday, June 30, TMZ published a report about a new lawsuit that names the artist formerly known as Kanye West and his previous chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos as defendants. Ye and Yiannopoulos are being sued for allegedly making false promises and creating a hostile work environment for employees who were hired to make two apps for the seasoned rap artist. Legal documents claim Ye and his team inflicted "forced labor and cruel inhuman, or degrading treatment" on workers — some of which were minors.
According to the outlet's report, Ye and Yiannopoulos hired an international developer group in April 2024 that consisted of Black employees and teenagers as young as 14 to make a "YZYVSN" app as a competitor to other streaming services. The goal was to promote his and Ty Dolla $ign's Vultures and forthcoming Vultures 2 albums without paying any rivals. The developers worked remotely and stayed in constant contact with Ye and Yiannopoulos' team through communication apps like Slack for example. Yiannopoulos allegedly promised to pay the group $120,000 for the job if they agreed to the working conditions and didn't complain.
Throughout their time on the job, the employees allegedly received harassing language "in regards to their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin" from their Caucasian managers. Milo allegedly sent a Black/brown skin emoji to an African American team member through an online chat, and reportedly called a younger worker a "school shooter." Some team members were called "slaves" and others were known as "new slaves."
Toward the end of April, Ye enlisted the same group to develop an app for his adult entertainment venture "Yeezy Porn." According to the lawsuit, Ye's wife Bianca Censori allegedly sent a file-sharing link to a video featuring sexually explicit content. Minors who worked on the team were not blocked from viewing the content while they worked on the app.
The employees say they were allegedly "bullied" into working long hours into the night without proper compensation. They gave Ye and Milo one of the apps, but it's not clear which one. Despite being rushed into making the app, Ye's team never paid them the $120,000. The developers are suing Ye and company for unpaid wages, overtime pay and emotional distress. Censori was not named in the lawsuit.
So far, neither Ye nor his team have responded to the claims. This would be the latest of at least four lawsuits the Vultures rapper has been hit with in 2024. Last month, his former personal assistant sued Ye for sexual harassment. He's also facing other workplace lawsuits that allege discrimination and other offenses stemming from his run with Donda Academy.