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.
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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.