In a legal battle that brings to light music's darker side, Jenn An, a former "America’s Next Top Model" contestant, has filed a lawsuit against Kanye "Ye" West. She accuses him of sexual assault and strangulation during a 2010 music video shoot for La Roux’s “In for the Kill.”
Kanye West
The video was filmed in September 2010, in a suite at New York City's Chelsea Hotel. According to An, West specifically requested her as one of the female background models, allegedly instructing, “Give me the Asian girl.” She reportedly responded, “I’m not wearing very much,” to which he purportedly replied, “That’s why I chose you.” The lawsuit, reviewed by TheWrap, claims she was clad only in revealing lingerie.
In the suit, it is alleged that West dismissed the other background actors before “beginning filming the sexual assault to which he was about to subject Plaintiff.” An accuses West of strangling her with both hands and then “ramming several fingers down her throat, continuously moved them in and out, and gagged her (which Plaintiff believed lasted for over a minute) to emulate forced oral sex, and screamed, ‘This is art. This is f–king art. I am like Picasso.'”
The complaint also targets Interscope and Universal Music Group, accusing them of facilitating an environment that allowed West to “gag Plaintiff on a music video set, without consequence.”
The lawsuit further alleges that West’s “gendered, hateful, and abusive controversies were a brand, which was too profitable for Defendant Universal Music to intervene, despite his unlawful conduct.” Citing West's alleged violations under New York’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, An seeks a jury trial for punitive damages, attorney fees, and compensation for mental, emotional, and physical injuries, as well as reputational harm.
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The suit additionally claims that Universal Music Group and its affiliates “systematically discriminate against women, by continuing to work with artists with well-documented histories of sexual harassment and discrimination,” and that record labels, along with “other high-profile figures within the industry [tried to] ‘bury’ the incident.”
An, who describes herself as a “feminist that believes in equal rights for all — including my Black, disabled, trans and immigrant/refugee friends” on social media, has built a career with numerous modeling and acting roles since her 2009 appearance on “ANTM,” including guest spots on The Mindy Project, Criminal Minds and Grey’s Anatomy.