Woman Accuses Kanye West of Assault, Ye Claims It Was Part of an 'Intense' Performance

A woman is suing Kanye West after alleging that he choked her on the set of a music video. Jennifer An, who was previously a contestant on America’s Next Top Model, told the BBC that West assaulted her during production of the video for the La Roux song “In For the Kill.” West appeared on a remix of the song.

An said the team were mid-shoot when the crew members suddenly stopped work and started “running around the Chelsea Hotel, they’re like, ‘Kanye’s coming, Kanye’s coming’.” Shortly after that, she said, the models “were lined up in the hallway” for West’s arrival. He then “came through and chose three girls to be in the scene with him”, including An. After starting to film his section of the music video, An alleges West “couldn’t remember his lines”, shouted cut, and went to work on a different scene. Then he pulled up a chair and told An to sit down in it.

“All of a sudden he just reaches a hand out and starts choking me, and I’m just not sure what’s happening. And then, he pulled his other hand out and starts choking me with both hands, and then starts smearing my makeup all over my face and sticking his hands inside of my mouth.” An said the encounter ended when West “yelled something like, ‘this is art, I’m Picasso’.” The video featuring West never made it to air.

An filed her lawsuit in 2024 under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which temporarily extended the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault. It’s the law that helped Cassie Fine to sue Sean Combs. The case has not yet gone to trial and West’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss it earlier this year. They are claiming An was “a consenting participant in the stage performance” and that said performance was an “intense and provocative theatrical” one, inspired by American Psycho.

West is still on his pseudo-comeback tour after his weak apology for years of antisemitism, Hitler support, and selling swastika merchandise, all of which he claims was influenced by his mental health struggles. Several planned European concerts have been banned, with many countries considering banning him from entry. His fans continue to claim he’s a genius rather than a garden variety bully.