In 2013, Kanye West called modern day African Americans living in a capitalistic society the “new slaves” essentially owned by wealthy people and large corporations.
By 2024, he’d apparently changed his mind. Instead, the real “new slaves” were the people who worked for him.
In a lawsuit first reported by Seamus Hughes’ Court Watch, former employees working on an app for West — who now prefers to be referred to as the mononymous Ye — claim they were “regularly and viciously bullied for their ages, races, genders, sexual orientation, and national origins/ethnicities.”
For instance, new employees were added to a Discord channel called “new slaves,” which remained until one employee demanded it be changed because it is “blatantly racist.”
In addition, West and his associates — including the controversial political pundit Milo Yiannopoulos — forced the workers, including some who are children, into working long hours and sometimes foregoing sleep, “which required them to sacrifice school and personal time,” the suit claims.
If workers refused to continue to work under those conditions, West and others told them they would not receive the money they were promised for the work, the suit added.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles because of West’s bases of operations in Northridge and Beverly Grove, also alleges the minor workers were exposed to pornography as part of the development of an app called Yeezy Porn.
Yiannopoulos did not immediately respond to a request for comment. West could not be reached for comment.