Kanye West’s former assistant is suing him for alleged sexual battery

Kanye West, March 2024 (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

Note: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual abuse.

Lauren Pisciotta, a former personal and executive assistant to Kanye West, has expanded her sexual harassment lawsuit against the rapper to include claims that he drugged and sexually assaulted her. The original lawsuit had outlined examples of harassment by West involving unwanted sexual text messages and masturbation while on the phone with her. An amended complaint, filed last week, includes allegations that he “touched, groped, fondled, grabbed and forced himself in and out” of Pisciotta on several occasions, including once at a party co-hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

In the lawsuit, first reported by TMZ and viewed by Pitchfork, Pisciotta claims West assaulted her at a San Francisco hotel where he had assembled a team to work on it. Donda. Pisciotta says West banged on her door early one morning and asked if she could use her shower because his was broken. After undressing and showering, she claims, West entered a separate room where she was sitting, dropped his towel and pushed her onto the bed before straddling her and “shoving his naked body and penis into (Pisciotta’s) face .” She says that after repeatedly saying, “I don’t want to do this,” West eventually apologized, grabbed his clothes and left with a bodyguard who had been waiting outside. Pisciotta claims she feared retaliation if she spoke out, despite subsequent incidents of repeated touching in the office.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Pisciotta attended a studio session in Santa Monica, California, co-hosted by West and Diddy, on an unspecified date. She claims West served drinks to guests and told them to drink them if they wanted to stay. She says that after a few small sips, she “entered an altered and severely disturbed state,” losing control of her body and speech. She says she woke up with no memory of the night’s events, but West later told her they “connected a little” on the night in question. In that conversation, West said his former wife, whose name has been withheld, made a negative comment about Pisciotta via text message and accused her and West of being “intimate” together. West, she claimed, told his wife that the couple had “hooked up” but not that she had been “drugged and sexually assaulted.” When West heard this, he reportedly laughed and said, “Women like to say they don’t remember.”

The lawsuit claims that when she learned she was “working for the man who sexually assaulted her,” she was “overcome with immense shame, discomfort and utter disgust.” Her employment was eventually terminated, before she chanced upon West and his current wife, Bianca Censori, at a Post Malone concert. She claims that when West saw Pisciotta, he squeezed her neck and aggressively pulled her toward his chest, saying, “I always knew what I would do to you if I ever said you again.” Then, she claims, he pushed his tongue into her ear as Censori watched.

Pisciotta says she was left with “severe anxiety, depression and overwhelming PTSD,” which required a “strict schedule” of therapy and medications. She is suing West for exemplary and punitive damages in connection with the alleged assaults, as well as other damages in connection with the claims in the original lawsuit.

Pisciotta’s attorney, Mark Koorenny, did not provide additional comment when contacted by Pitchfork.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual violence, we encourage you to reach out for support:

RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
https://rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)

Crisis text line
Text: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741

Originally published on Pitchfork