Rapper Ye stalked an assistant and sexually harassed her, the lawsuit alleges

Most of the alleged harassment occurred before Ye made anti-Semitic comments in public in late 2022, which led brands such as Adidas to cut ties with the world-renowned rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

Ye’s publicist Sasha Brookner sent The Washington Post a lengthy statement denying the claims, which she attributed to a “legal representative” she declined to name. “In response to these baseless claims, Ye will file a lawsuit against Ms. Pisciotta, who actively pursued her sexually to force employment and other material benefits, then engaged in blackmail and extortion when her advances were rejected,” the statement said.

Pisciotta’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

In the lawsuit, filed Monday in a Los Angeles court, Pisciotta said that around July 2021, she was hired to be a 24-hour on-call assistant for the Ye and Yeezy brands for an annual salary of $1 million. At the time, the lawsuit said, Pisciotta had a social media presence on Instagram and made money on OnlyFans, a website typically used for amateur porn and modeling. Pisciotta said he previously worked with Ye on three songs on his 2021 album, “Donda,” and on Yeezy’s women’s fashion line.

In August 2022, Pisciotta claimed, Ye offered her $1 million to delete her OnlyFans account and asked her to be “like God.” She agreed to do so, but was never paid the extra money, the lawsuit said.

After deleting the account, according to the lawsuit, Pisciotta began receiving text-filled messages, videos and images from Ye. In these messages he discussed his sexual desires and talked about masturbation. She also claimed in the suit that Ye locked her in a room alone with her on a flight to Paris and masturbated under the covers while she sat across from him in a chair.

“The defendant often told the plaintiff that he always wanted to have sex with her and that he kept these feelings for a very long time,” the complaint states. “The defendant also falsely boasted that he had sexual relations with the plaintiff or would imply to his friends, business partners and music and fashion associates that he had sexual relations with the plaintiff.” Pisciotta said in the suit that she never had sex with Ye, nor did she want to. Ye’s representatives, however, claim that Pisciotta sent her boss unsolicited nude photos and offered to have sex with him on his birthday, an offer Ye refused.

In September 2022, Pisciotta said, she was promoted to chief of staff for some of Yeezy’s business arms, with an additional $3 million added to her annual salary. But it is said that she was never paid. About a month later, in October, she was cut by Yeezy and offered a $3 million package, the lawsuit states. She accepted the offer but said she was never paid, according to the lawsuit.

Ye’s “obsession, fixation and stalking” of Pisciotta allegedly continued after the termination, the lawsuit states. The “Carnival” singer allegedly moved into the same building as Pisciotta, where the rapper’s “unprofessional and harassing behavior” continued, according to the complaint.

The statement sent by Ye’s publicist offered an entirely different version of events, claiming that Pisciotta was fired for disability, for seeking a $4 million annual salary and for “numerous documented incidents of her conduct improper and independent”. The statement alleges that she stole Ye’s phone before her termination in a failed attempt to destroy evidence of her behavior.

This is not the first time Ye has faced resentment from employees. Multiple Yeezy employees accused the rapper of showing them pornographic material and sexual content, according to a November 2022 report by Rolling Stone. Adidas launched an investigation into complaints from employees about Ye’s actions towards them since he and Adidas had a business partnership together. (Adidas cut ties with Ye and Yeezy in October 2022 after he made anti-Semitic comments. Several other companies, such as Balenciaga and JPMorgan Chase, followed suit.)

Most recently, right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who previously served as Yeezy’s chief of staff, left the company after the two reportedly clashed over “Yeezy Porn” — which was apparently a film company to grow that Ye hoped to open. Ye has previously claimed to have an addiction to pornography, which he said was harmful to his family.