A photographer named Emilio Garcia filed a lawsuit against hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion, alleging that he was forced to watch her have sex and was subsequently fired unfairly. The incident reportedly occurred after a night out in Ibiza, Spain in 2022, when Megan began having sex with another woman in an SUV, with Garcia unable to leave the moving vehicle. He felt embarrassed, mortified, and offended throughout the ordeal. Garcia claims that Megan later berated and fat-shamed him, leading him to consider quitting due to feeling overworked, underpaid, and mistreated in a hostile work environment. Despite raising these concerns with Megan, he was fired the following day after four years of working for her.
Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, stated that she would fight the lawsuit in court, describing it as an employment claim for money with no sexual harassment claim filed. The lawsuit alleges that Garcia was misclassified as an independent contractor but treated as an exclusive employee, facing mistreatment due to Megan’s possessiveness and abusiveness. Garcia has since filed a job discrimination complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. The lawsuit names Megan, her companies Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment and Hot Girl Touring, and her label Roc Nation as defendants, with a defense response yet to be filed.
The lawsuit seeks financial damages to be determined at trial, with Garcia claiming to have suffered severe emotional and physical distress as a result of his treatment on the job, the firing, and having to witness the scene in the SUV. Megan Thee Stallion, 29, has previously been involved in legal drama as the victim of a shooting by rapper Tory Lanez in 2020, for which Lanez was convicted of three felonies and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Despite facing online abuse, Megan has continued to rise in the music industry, winning a Grammy for best new artist in 2021 and scoring No. 1 singles with songs like “Savage” and “WAP.”
The lawsuit filed by Garcia against Megan Thee Stallion and her affiliated entities highlights the alleged mistreatment and unfair termination he experienced as her employee. According to Garcia, witnessing the incident in the SUV and subsequent actions by Megan led to severe emotional and physical distress. The case also raises issues of misclassification of employment status, hostile work environment, and job discrimination, with Garcia filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.
Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyer has refuted the claims made in the lawsuit, stating that it is an employment claim for money with no sexual harassment claim. The defense response from Megan and her legal team is yet to be filed, with no immediate response from Roc Nation, her label. Despite the legal challenges and negative publicity, Megan has continued to thrive in her music career, winning awards and achieving chart-topping success with her music.
The lawsuit filed by Garcia brings to light the complexities and challenges faced by individuals working in the entertainment industry, particularly in high-pressure and demanding environments. It underscores the importance of fair treatment, appropriate classification of employment status, and adherence to workplace regulations to ensure the well-being and rights of all employees. The outcome of this legal dispute will likely have implications for the broader conversation around workplace discrimination and mistreatment in the entertainment industry.
