Kanye West is facing charges of “forced labor and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” after allegedly calling his workers “new slaves.”
The suit, seen by TMZwas filed in a U.S. district court and names Ye and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The duo are accused of making false promises to their employees, some of whom were minors, and forcing them to work long hours while taunting them with racial slurs.
Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, is also alleged to have sent pornographic videos to staff that were accessible to minors.
The plaintiffs were hired by Ye to work on his streaming service app YZYVSN, designed to rival Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, to promote his albums Vultures and Vultures 2.
The lawsuit, seen by TMZ, was filed in a U.S. district court and names Ye and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The complaints date back to this spring, when Ye started working on YZYVSN.
He and Milo allegedly hired an international property development group that consisted of several black members, many of whom were minors, some as young as 14 years old.
They then fostered a supposedly racist work environment and repeatedly made false promises about pay and working hours.
Milo reportedly promised the developer group $120,000 if they completed the app, agreed to the working conditions and didn’t complain.
Ye then allegedly ordered all employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement and threatened to fire the minors if they did not.
They would also require minors to sign “voluntary agreements.”
From that point on, Ye’s white managers allegedly used derogatory and racist language to create a hostile work environment.
They allegedly harassed team members based on their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin.
Some of them were called ‘slaves’, while others were called ‘new slaves’.
The complainants were hired by Ye to work on his YZYVSN streaming service app, which is designed to compete with Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, to promote his albums Vultures and Vultures 2
They would also be forced to work through the night without being paid or having any sleep.
When Ye announced he was starting a pornographic film company, his wife Bianca reportedly sent a link to an employee with hardcore porn in it. This link was accessible to the minors working on the project.
Bianca is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
On May 1, the team reportedly completed one of the apps and sent it to Ye.
But he reportedly didn’t pay them, so they filed a lawsuit seeking damages for unpaid wages and overtime, and for emotional distress.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Ye and Milo for comment.