Kanye West is being sued for engaging in “forced labor and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” after his employees were allegedly called “new slaves.”
Costume, as seen by TMZwas filed in a U.S. District Court and names Ye and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.
The couple is accused of making false promises to their employees, some of whom were minors, and forcing them to work long hours while taunting them with racist comments.
Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, also allegedly sent pornographic videos to staff that were accessible to minors.
Ye hired the complainants to work on his YZYVSN streaming service app, designed to compete with Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, to promote his albums Vultures and Vultures 2.
The lawsuit, seen by TMZ, was filed in 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 began working at YZYVSN.
He and Milo allegedly hired an international developer group made up of several black members, many of whom were minors, some as young as 14 years old.
They then fostered an allegedly racist work environment and made repeated false promises about pay and working hours.
Milo reportedly promised the group of developers $120,000 if they completed the app, agreed to the working conditions, and did not complain.
But then Ye allegedly ordered all employees to sign confidentiality agreements and threatened to fire minors if they didn’t.
They also allegedly required minors to sign “voluntary” agreements.
Thereafter, Ye’s white managers allegedly used derogatory and racist language to create a hostile work environment.
They reportedly harassed team members on the basis of age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin.
Some of them were called “slaves,” while others were called “new slaves.”
Ye hired the whistleblowers to work on his streaming service app YZYVSN, designed to compete with Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, to promote his albums Vultures and Vultures 2.
They were also reportedly forced to work through the night without pay or sleep.
When Ye announced he was launching an adult film business, his wife Bianca allegedly sent a worker a link to hardcore pornography that could be accessed by minors working on the project.
Bianca is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
On May 1, the team reportedly finished one of the applications and sent it to Ye.
But he allegedly failed to pay them, prompting them to file the lawsuit seeking damages for unpaid wages and overtime, as well as emotional distress.
DailyMail.com has contacted Ye and Milo for comment.
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