Democracy Dies in Darkness

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

The allegations were added to a lawsuit first filed in June, which accuses Ye and several Yeezy divisions of wrongful termination and sexual harassment, among other charges.

4 min
Ye, formerly Kanye West, at Los Angeles Lakers game in 2020. (Mark J. Terrill/AP)

Ye’s former assistant accused the rapper of drugging 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 severity to the legal troubles facing the artist.

Lauren Pisciotta said she and others were served drinks while at a studio session with a former client in Santa Monica, Calif., co-hosted by Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Combs, according to the 86-page Los Angeles Superior Court filing. But after a few sips, Pisciotta said she started to feel disoriented.

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

Years later, after Ye fired her, she learned 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 around the time of Pisciotta’s firing.

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

The allegations were added on Tuesday to Pisciotta’s lawsuit first filed in June, which accuses Ye and several Yeezy divisions 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 was promised a $3 million raise to her $1 million salary when she was promoted to the role but never received 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.

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

He asked her and other female Yeezy employees for “hugs,” which the lawsuit described as code for him feeling and groping their bodies. In one story, she claimed that 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 his racketeering and sex trafficking charges. The hip-hop mogul has had 12 sexual assault lawsuits filed against him in the past year, with a reported 120 more on the way.

When she declined Ye’s invitations to have sex, she alleged he “used false offers of a Maybach, Lamborghini, Hermès Birkin handbags, watches, raises and more in the attempt to entice and encourage 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.

Ye has been the focus 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, 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.

Additionally, Ye has lost several business partnerships, including with 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.