Kanye West breaks silence on former assistant’s sexual assault claims

Lauren Pisciotta, a former employee of the rapper, has amended her 2024 lawsuit against Kanye West, a decision slammed by the 48-year-old’s representative Milo Yiannopoulos

Kanye West is denying allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking (Image: GC Images)

Kanye West has responded to his former assistant’s claims of sexual assault, oral rape and sex trafficking.

Lauren Pisciotta, a fitness model and influence who worked for the disgraced rapper from 2021 to 2022, made a number of accusations in a new lawsuit. She accused him of sexually harassing her, and assaulting her on multiple occasions, which included claims he forced ‘his penis into her mouth’ on a business trip in San Francisco, all of which is denies.

West’s team have come out fighting, with his representative Milo Yiannopoulos responding to the amended complaint. She last year launched a lawsuit claiming he drugged and raped her at a party with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Pisciotta has now accused the father-of-four of sexually harassing and assaulting her on multiple occasions.

The 48-year-old’s rep hit out at “the fourth version she has advanced”. He added: “Each new revision contradicts the others; each is more absurd and outlandish than all previous claims combined,’ the Yeezy rep insisted. “Does Ms. Pisciotta actually believe her confabulations? We cannot know.

Lauren Pisciotta
She accused the father-of-four of sexually harassing and assaulting her on multiple occasions(Image: Lauren Pisciotta/Instagram)

“But this breathless new installment of fantasy fiction discredits all past, present and future testimony. We stand ready to annihilate Ms. Pisciotta’s tall tales before a jury, an exoneration so inevitable that even she, lost in her fog of fantasy, must surely see it coming.”

Mr Yiannopoulos went on to say in the statement released to MailOnline that she picked the one rapper who “loathes violence, has never been arrested, and doesn’t even own a gun”. Mrs Pisciotta alleged that West attempted to kiss her on the lips more than once, which she says she told him was ‘not professional’.

In response to his rep’s statement, her attorney Lisa Bloom told the publication: “While Kanye West’s publicist has come up with a slickly worded (and outrageously false and defamatory) attack on Ms. Pisciotta, Kanye himself has publicly admitted much of what she’s claiming.

“Kanye’s publicist is deafeningly silent on Kanye’s own admissions, which will destroy him in court. We look forward to seeing him there, where he cannot hide behind a high priced spin team,” she concluded. It comes after her legal complaint, which was originally filed last year.

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A spokesperson for Yeezy hit out at the claims (Image: GC Images)

Her most serious claim in the October 2024 lawsuit was that years before working for West, he drugged and raped her. He allegedly confessed during his last weeks as her boss. Pisciotta claimed she met West when he invited her musician client to a studio session and party alongside his friend Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in Santa Monica.

In the legal paper she claimed The following day, Pisciotta said she felt “ashamed and embarrassed” that she couldn’t remember the evening. She claims her musician client refused to discuss what had happened. Pisciotta stated she learned years later why her client “was too traumatized and disturbed to speak about that night”.

She believed for years that she was drugged by a studio assistant and escaped without being molested, but Pisciotta has claimed she learned the truth from West. Pisciotta claimed not long before she was fired by him in November 2022, West was engaged by a comment his partner at the time made about him and Pisciotta having an affair.

Pisciotta wanted to text West’s partner at the time to clear things up as it “appeared she was under the wrong impression”. However, she claimed West said she couldn’t deny they were ever intimate due to what happened at the Santa Monica party. The lawsuit claimed West said: “We did kind of hook up a little one time.

“[West] then immediately proceeded to reminisce about the time he was referring to… where he ‘hooked up’ with [Pisciotta] after she had been drugged.” Pisciotta claimed West told his partner at the time they “hooked up” but “left out the true nature and severity of what he did to her.

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.”West handed her a drink and after a few sips she “suddenly started to feel disorientated and… began to slip into an altered and highly impaired state.” It claimed: “She felt less in control of her body and speech and that is where [her] memories of the night escape her.”

Molinari named Europe Ryder Cup vice-captain

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Italy’s Francesco Molinari has been named as Europe’s fourth vice-captain for September’s Ryder Cup in New York.

The 42-year-old fulfilled the same role at the 2023 event in Rome, won by Europe, and will join his brother Edoardo, Thomas Bjorn and Jose Maria Olazabal in captain Luke Donald’s backroom team when they take on the United States at Bethpage Black from 26-28 September.

Molinari made his Ryder Cup debut alongside his brother in 2010 at Celtic Manor and was part of the last European team to retain the Ryder Cup in the US when he secured a half-point against Tiger Woods at Medinah in 2012 to help ensure a 14½-13½ win.

In 2018, he created history as the first European player to win all five of his matches in a Ryder Cup, as Bjorn’s team claimed a 17½-10½ victory at Le Golf National in Paris.

“I’m very happy to be part of the team again,” said Molinari. “I really enjoyed being part of Luke’s backroom team in Rome and trying to help the players.

“Luke is a very smart, switched on individual. It’s been great to see at first-hand how much he is putting into being the captain. He did the same two years ago and he’s doing it now. He leads by example so that passion trickles down to the players.

“It is going to be a big challenge at Bethpage. Everyone will give their best and I am very happy to be able to give my contribution to the team.”

Donald added: “Francesco knows how to win Ryder Cups, having been on three winning teams, and I think that’s really important for us. We obviously have a tough task ahead of us trying to win away in New York.

“I think he brings a very calm head. He is someone who listens a lot and has good ideas. He speaks up when he feels like he needs to.

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Defender Mosquera agrees terms with Arsenal

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Valencia centre-back Cristhian Mosquera has agreed personal terms with Arsenal, with a move to the Premier League club getting closer.

BBC Sport previously reported that Arsenal were in talks to sign the 21-year-old but now another element to the deal has been completed.

The Gunners have been looking to add a young defender to their squad to compete with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

The Spain Under-21 international has made 90 appearances for Valencia and was a regular last season, playing the full match in 37 of the club’s 38 La Liga games.

Arsenal have been busy during this transfer window and have signed Martin Zubimendi from Real Socidead, Christian Norgaard from Brentford and Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea.

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Europe’s stock markets drop amid Trump’s tariff threats against EU, Mexico

Europe’s stock markets have dropped sharply as investors weigh United States President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats against the European Union and Mexico.

Major European indices suffered heavy losses on Monday as EU ministers were set to discuss their response to Trump’s plans to impose a 30 percent tariff on the bloc’s goods from August 1.

Germany’s benchmark DAX had fallen nearly 0.9 percent as of 08:30 GMT, while France’s CAC 40, Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 were down 0.7 to 0.8 percent.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index dipped about 0.5 percent.

The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 bucked the sell-off, rising about 0.2 percent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell about 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up by about the same amount.

US futures, which are traded outside of regular market hours, fell early on Monday, with those tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices both dropping more than 0.5 percent.

Markets are on edge ahead of Trump’s August 1 deadline for US trading partners to reach trade deals or face steep tariffs.

Despite months of negotiations, the Trump administration has so far announced agreements with only the UK, China and Vietnam.

EU officials have threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods worth about 100 billion euros ($117bn) if Brussels and Washington are unable to reach a deal.

The EU is the US’s largest trading partner, with their two-way trade in goods and services amounting to 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in 2024, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the bloc would delay retaliatory tariffs on the US to August to give officials more time to reach an agreement with the Trump administration.