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Ye's former assistant accused the rapper of drugging her and sexually assaulting her at an event co-hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs in an amended complaint she filed this week, adding another dimension of seriousness to the legal woes the artist faces.
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Lauren Pisciotta said she and others were served drinks during a studio session with a former client in Santa Monica, California, co-hosted by Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Combs, according to an 86-page Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. However, after a few sips, Pisciotta stated that she began to feel disoriented.
As she “began to decline into an altered and severely impaired state, she felt she was losing control of her body and speech,” the complaint continued. She added that this was the last thing she remembered from that night before she woke up the next day “feeling physically sick and confused.”
She assumed a studio assistant or drink maker had spiked her drink – as she claimed in the lawsuit – and, feeling ashamed that she didn't remember what happened that night, she didn't investigate further.
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Years later, when Ye fired her, she learned that she had been a victim of sexual assault – the lawsuit continued after Ye's ex-wife commented that Ye and Pisciotta had had “intimate contact” while Ye was married. The lawsuit does not name his ex-wife, although Ye's marriage to Kim Kardashian was ending in divorce around the time of Pisciotta's firing.
When Pisciotta asked if she could send her ex-wife a message saying that wasn't true, Ye allegedly replied, “We met once,” before recalling the night in Santa Monica.
Those allegations were added Tuesday to Pisciotta's lawsuit first filed in June, which accuses Ye and several Yeezy affiliates of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, hostile work environment and unpaid wages, among other claims.
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The documents show Pisciotta was Ye's assistant who became Ye's chief of staff from July 2021 to October 2022. She was promised a $3 million raise on top of her $1 million salary when she was promoted to the position, but never she didn't receive it, she said, and after she was fired about a month later and offered a $3 million severance package, she didn't receive that money either.
She claimed that throughout her employment she was the subject of detailed conversations and text messages from Ye about who he had sex with or wanted to have sex with – including herself.
He asked her and other Yeezy employees for “hugs,” which the lawsuit describes as code for him to touch and grope their bodies. In one story, she claimed that Ye forced her to fly from Los Angeles to New York on her birthday to personally deliver her passport to him, and when she arrived at his hotel room, he gave her a big hug. According to the amended complaint, the entertainer insisted that she be the one to bring him “sexual honey,” a sexual and performance-enhancing honey that he requested before sexual encounters, including “sex parties.”
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Combs was accused of throwing sex parties called “highs,” one of the bases of his racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Twelve sexual assault lawsuits were filed against the hip-hop mogul last year, with another 120 pending.
When she refused Ye's invitations to sexual relations, she alleged that he “used false offers for Maybach, Lamborghini, Hermès Birkin handbags, watches, risers and other brands in an attempt to induce and entice plaintiff to submit to his sexual advances and desire” to have her.
Representatives for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ye has been the subject of several employee complaints over the past year. On Thursday, an anonymous John Doe filed a lawsuit against Ye and Yeezy for retaliation, emotional distress and labor code violations. He said he was hired as director of intelligence and alleged that the artist threatened to kill him and fired him after Doe reported alleged child abuse at Donda Academy, a private school founded by Ye.
Right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos resigned from Yeezy in May after the two allegedly clashed over “Yeezy Porn,” an adult film production company Ye was hoping to start.
Additionally, Ye lost several business partners, including Adidas, which supported his successful Yeezy sportswear business, in October 2022 after publicly making anti-Semitic remarks and wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt earlier this year.
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