A former marketing specialist for Kanye West has sued the artist for harassment and discrimination, alleging she was fired after being tormented for being Jewish and providing several screenshots of highly abusive and antisemitic text messages.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the former staffer said that West frequently texted commenting on her appearance, her gender and her religion. One such message says: “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler” and “I Am A Nazi.” West also reminded the employee of his antisemitism “on numerous occasions” by comparing himself to Hitler and “hail[ing] Hitler.”
The Jane Doe plaintiff began working for West as a marketing specialist in December 2023. From January to June 2024, she alleges she was bombarded with antisemitic texts and numerous comments on her appearance – often ones calling her “ugly” or a “b-tch.”
According to the suit, the employee was fired in March 2024 before quickly being rehired with a doubled salary. A few months later in June 2024, Jane Doe and others received a group text from West saying, “What the F– Is Everybody Here Getting Paid?” West’s rant continued into the night where he continued to text attacks on her appearance, repeatedly calling her ugly and “corny” and egging her on to sue him: “Come destroy me b-tch.” The woman was fired the next day.
The lawsuit is just the latest in the media firestorm West has engulfed himself in the past week. His X account was deactivated Monday days after he posted a string of antisemitic comments. The dozens of controversial tweets included “I love Hitler. Now what b—s” and “I’m a Nazi.” West also called the idea he loves Hitler “old news” and captioned an image of himself wearing a “say no to Nazis” with “I used to be woke too.”
He also bought an ad during the Super Bowl that pointed people to a Shopify website that was selling a single item: a t-shirt with a swastika on it for $20. Shopify finally took the site down but it sat up for more than 24 hours. The Anti-Defamation League urged Fox Sports to condemn the ad, which only appeared in a few local markets, and created a petition for others to sign in agreement.
“At the Super Bowl, hate took a front-row seat. Kanye West promoted an ad with a link to swastika t-shirts, broadcasting it to millions on live TV,” the ADL said in response to the website. “Just days earlier, his dangerous rants on X praised Hitler, self-identified as a Nazi, and spread antisemitic vitriol. In 2022, ADL identified 30 incidents of harassment, assault, and vandalism linked to Kanye’s online outbursts. We refuse to let hate win. Bigotry has consequences. Join ADL in demanding that Fox Sports condemn this ad and never give hate a platform again.”
