Kanye West and his wife, Bianca Censori, are at the center of a controversial lawsuit filed by former employees of West’s company, Yeezy. The suit, filed in a U.S. District Court, names West and his former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges that employees were subjected to “forced labor and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” during the development of YZYVSN, a streaming service app launched by West in Spring 2024 to compete with Tidal, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Former employees, including minors as young as 14, were allegedly not paid for extensive working hours and were exposed to derogatory treatment. The lawsuit contends that West and Yiannopoulos referred to employees as “new slaves” and fostered a racist workplace culture.

Employees were allegedly required to sign non-disclosure agreements, with minors forced to sign “volunteer” agreements. The suit claims they were bullied into working long hours without pay or adequate rest.

Following the launch of “Yeezy Porn,” a division of West’s business, Ye’a wife Bianca Censori is accused of sending explicit content to staff members. This material was allegedly accessible to minors working on the project.

It is also alleged that white managers used disparaging language towards foreign and minority workers, creating a hostile work environment. Yiannopoulos is accused of sending inappropriate, racially charged messages to team members.

The suit seeks compensation for unpaid wages, legal fees, and damages for emotional distress.

Yiannopoulos, who has since left Yeezy, dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, calling it a “sad race hustle.” West and Censori have not yet publicly addressed these allegations.

In a full statement given to The Root, he notes:

The tragic, desperate, attention-seeking wannabe Yeezy staffer behind this egregious and repulsive pack of lies, Shemar DaCosta, has never had any kind of access to Ye, his family, or Yeezy, or any information pertinent to the company, and he never will…He claimed to be a lead developer for Yeezy. He has never worked at Yeezy. Read my lips: He will never, ever, ever land a job at the company after telling such odious lies about the Lady of the House…Yeezy Porn doesn’t exist. I made sure of that by falling on my sword and quitting over it. All I’ve done since is try to get these app developers paid, as voluminous correspondence demonstrates. Anyone asserting otherwise, including many in the press, are lazy or simply dishonest buffoons uncritically repeating mendacious lies from a lawsuit that takes more imaginative leaps than The Lord of the Rings.

This lawsuit comes amid other legal issues for West, including a recent settlement in a copyright dispute with Donna Summer’s estate and another lawsuit from a former assistant alleging sexual harassment and wrongful termination.