Ye’s former assistant alleged the rapper drugged, sexually assaulted her

The former assistant of rapper Ye has accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her at an event co-hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs in an amended complaint that adds another dimension of severity to the legal troubles facing the artist.

Lauren Pisciotta said she and others were served drinks at a studio session with a former client in Santa Monica, California, co-hosted by Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Combs, according to last week’s 86-page Los Angeles Superior Court filing.

After a few sips, Pisciotta said she started to feel disoriented.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has been accused of sexual assault. Credit: Evan Agostini

As she “began to slip into an altered and heavily impaired state, she felt less in control of her body and speech”, the complaint continued. That was the last thing she recalled from that night, she said, before waking up the next day “feeling physically ill and confused”.

She assumed a studio assistant or someone preparing the drinks laced her drink, she said in the filing, and – feeling the shame of being unable to remember what happened that night – didn’t investigate further.

Years later, after Ye fired her, she learnt she was sexually assaulted, the lawsuit continued, after Ye’s former wife commented that Ye and Pisciotta had been “intimate” while Ye was married. The lawsuit doesn’t name his former wife, although Ye’s marriage to Kim Kardashian was ending in divorce at about the time Pisciotta was fired.

When Pisciotta asked if she could send a message to Ye’s ex-wife to say that wasn’t true, the rapper allegedly replied, “We did kind of hook up a little one time”, before reminiscing about the night in Santa Monica.

The allegations were added to Pisciotta’s lawsuit, first filed in June, accusing Ye and several divisions of his Yeezy brand of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment and unpaid wages, among other charges. Pisciotta was Ye’s assistant-turned-chief-of-staff from July 2021 to October 2022, according to the filing. She never received the promised $US3 million raise to her $US1 million salary when she was promoted, she said. Fired about a month later, she also did not receive the proffered $US3 million severance package.

Throughout her employment, she alleged, she was subjected to detailed conversations and text messages from Ye about whom he had sex with or wanted to have sex with – including herself.

He asked Pisciotta and other female Yeezy employees for “hugs”, which the lawsuit described as code for him feeling and groping their bodies. Pisciotta claimed Ye forced her to fly from Los Angeles to New York on her birthday to hand-deliver his passport and, when she arrived at his hotel room, he gave her a hug. According to the amended complaint, the artist insisted that she be the one to bring him his “sex honey”, a sexual enhancement and performance honey he requested before sexual encounters, including “sex-parties”.

Combs has been accused of throwing sex parties called “freak offs”, which is part of the basis for racketeering and sex-trafficking charges against him. The hip-hop mogul has had 12 sexual assault lawsuits filed against him in the past year, with a further reported 120 on the way.

When Pisciotta declined Ye’s invitations to have sex, she alleged he “used false offers of a Maybach, Lamborghini, Hermes Birkin handbags, watches, raises and more in the attempt to entice and encourage the plaintiff to give in to his sexual advances and desire of ‘having’ her”.

Representatives for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There have been several employee complaints about Ye in the past year. On Thursday, an anonymous claimant filed a lawsuit against Ye and Yeezy for retaliation, emotional distress and labour code violations. He said he was hired as director of intelligence and alleged that the artist threatened to kill him, firing him after he reported alleged child abuse at Donda Academy, the private school Ye founded.

Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing commentator, resigned from Yeezy in May after the two reportedly clashed over “Yeezy Porn” – an adult film company that Ye hoped to launch.

As well, Ye has lost several business partnerships, including Adidas, which had backed his successful Yeezy sportswear business, in October 2022, after publicly making antisemitic remarks and wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt that year.

The Washington Post

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service.

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