Kanye West’s former assistant has filed a lawsuit, accusing him of drugging and sexually assaulting her during a studio session he co-hosted with Sean “Diddy” Combs. Lauren Pisciotta, who was employed by West from 2021 to 2022, claims in an amended complaint obtained by PEOPLE that West committed “sexual battery” after giving her a drink that was laced with a substance.
Pisciotta’s allegations are an extension of her earlier wrongful termination lawsuit against West, in which she alleged she was subjected to explicit messages, pornographic images, videos, and phone calls from him before she was fired. She began working with West in July 2021 to assist with his Yeezy women’s fashion line and collaborate on his 2021 album, Donda.
Previously, a legal representative for West denied Pisciotta’s other claims and stated that “Ye will be filing a lawsuit against Ms. Pisciotta.”
According to the now-amended complaint filed on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles County Court, Pisciotta alleges that before her employment with West, he invited her to a studio session in Santa Monica, Calif., where “drinks were served to others in attendance, followed by an announcement that everyone had to drink if they wanted to stay.”
The lawsuit claims that West and Combs co-hosted the studio session, and Pisciotta attended with a “former artist management client.” Although Combs is named in the amended complaint as a co-host, Pisciotta is not accusing him of any wrongdoing.
The filing further alleges that the drink served to Pisciotta-allegedly by a studio assistant at West’s request- was “laced with an unidentifiable drug,” causing her to feel disoriented after just “a few small sips.”
“As plaintiff began to slip into an altered and heavily impaired state, she felt less in control of her body and speech, and that is where plaintiff’s memories of that night escape her,” the complaint reads.
According to the filing, Pisciotta woke up the next day “feeling physically ill and confused” and experienced “immense shame and embarrassment” for not being able to recall what happened after drinking at the studio session.
For years, West’s former assistant believed she had been drugged and humiliated herself at a work event. Later on, after West hired Pisciotta as an assistant, Chief of Staff, and A&R representative, he allegedly brought up that night for the first time. During the conversation, West told Pisciotta that they had “kind of hooked up a little one time,” referring to the night at the Santa Monica studio where the alleged assault occurred.
When Pisciotta told West she had no memory of that studio session, West allegedly laughed and remarked, “Women love to say they don’t remember,” according to the complaint.
“Up until that very moment, right before that very conversation, Plaintiff was unaware that she had been subjected to gender violence and sexual battery on that studio night by KANYE WEST a.k.a YE,” the document states.
The amended complaint also states that Pisciotta felt “overcome with immense shame, discomfort, and utter disgust.”
Additionally, Pisciotta alleges that in July 2021, during an “album workshop” at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, West “aggressively pounded” on her hotel room door at 6 a.m., forced his way into her room, and claimed he needed to use her shower because his was out of order. She further alleges that West later approached her, “dropped his towel,” and attempted to “forcefully thrust his naked body onto and penis into Plaintiff’s face,” ignoring her pleas to stop. According to the complaint, West then “swiftly left” after saying “sorry” and continued his day as if nothing had happened.
The complaint also claims that Pisciotta, who alleges she received lewd messages from West and was fired from her Chief of Staff position at his companies just a month after her promotion in September 2022, “could not stomach the fact that she worked for the man who had sexually assaulted her while she was drugged, who then successfully lured her back into his orbit through a job opportunity to repeat the assault.”
West is also facing a separate lawsuit filed in April 2024 by a former employee who claimed to have suffered “severe discrimination [and] harassment” while working for Yeezy and at his Donda Academy school. Additionally, a former staffer recently filed a lawsuit alleging emotional distress, retaliation, and labour code violations.
