A model is suing Kanye West after he allegedly choked her and yelled ‘this is art, I’m Picasso’.
Jennifer An was on the set of a 2010 music video for La Roux’s song In For The Kill which featured Mr West when the encounter took place.
She told the BBC’s Fame Under Fire Podcast that the rapper ‘choked me with both hands’ and put his fingers in her mouth to ‘stimulate oral sex’ which made her feel ‘suffocated, unsure and scared’.
Lawyers for Mr West have said the exchange was intended to mimic a scene from the film American Psycho and was part of an ‘intense and provocative theatrical performance’.
The musician did not end up appearing in the released version of the music video but was a guest rapper on a remix of the song.
Ms An also did not end up in the video after she asked La Roux to remove the scene. The singer allegedly apologised for the ‘horrific’ incident.
The model was just 24 at the time of the incident and was hired when her career took off after she appeared as a contestant on America’s Next Top Model in 2009.
Ms An said she had no idea Mr West would be at the shoot at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, but that crew members ran around in a frenzy when they heard he would be attending.
A model is suing Kanye West as she claimed he choked her and yelled ‘this is art, I’m Picasso’
Jennifer An was on the set of a 2010 music video for La Roux, which featured Mr West when the encounter took place (pictured on America’s Next Top Model in 2009)
She alleged that all the models were lined up and Mr West chose three girls to be in a scene with him.
When Ms An was picked by the rapper she claimed he couldn’t remember his lines and diverted the crew to film a different scene where he pulled up a chair in front of the cameras and she was out of the shot.
She said: ‘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.’
‘I feel like he was like trying to touch as much as he could,’ she said, claiming he did not speak to her before or after the exchange.
She added that Mr West ‘yelled something like, “this is art, I’m Picasso”‘ before abruptly leaving the set.
Ms An went on to claim he had smeared her make-up all over her face, while several people on the shoot watched on and did not intervene.
The model also said she didn’t attempt to stop the rapper because she feared this could result in losing her job.
Pictured: La Roux starring in the music video for her song In For The Kill. Mr West and Ms An did not feature in the final cut
The rapper did not end up appearing in the released version of the music video but was a guest rapper on a remix of the song (the pair pictured together in 2011)
Following the pair’s alleged encounter, Ms An said La Roux, who is known as Elly Jackson, apologised for what happened and promised not to air the scene.
The model filed her lawsuit in 2024 when she got back in touch with the singer to ask if she remembered the incident.
La Roux allegedly said: ‘I could never forget that, it was horrific,’ adding Mr West thought it was funny and joked about setting women back by 10 years.
The messages have been submitted to the court as corroborating evidence.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Mr West and La Roux for comment.
The case has not gone to trial and Mr West’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss it earlier this year, arguing that he should be protected by the First Amendment which protects free speech because the incident was a form of art.
They claimed Ms An was a consenting member of the music video and did not object or try to leave the exchange.
His lawyers went on to say the incident was meant to be an ode to American Psycho which may have caused Ms An to have trouble breathing.
