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By Emily Leibert, a night blogger for the Cut who specializes in coverage at the intersection of gender and sports, the arts, and our relationship to our bodies
Photo: WireImage
A new lawsuit filed by Megan Thee Stallion’s former cameraman, Emilio Garcia, accuses the singer of a hostile work environment and harassment — including allegedly forcing him to watch her have sex with another woman while he was trapped in a moving vehicle. In a press release, Garcia’s legal team also alleged that the plaintiff is owed more than six figures in back pay and that he endured fat-shaming and “intolerable” working conditions that resulted in physical sickness and emotional distress during his time working for the singer.
Filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the complaint —which was obtained by the Cut —lists Megan Thee Stallion; her companies Hot Girl Touring LLC and Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment, Inc.; and Roc Nation as defendants. According to the suit, Garcia began working with Stallion in 2018 as her personal cameraman and started working for the Grammy winner full time a year later. In one alleged incident from June 2022, Garcia says that he traveled to Ibiza, Spain, with the singer. After a night out, Garcia claims he, Stallion, and three other women were in an SUV together when Stallion and one of the women began having sex next to him. In the complaint, Garcia said he was “embarrassed, mortified and offended throughout the whole ordeal,” and could not escape the situation because they were in a moving car “in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country.”
“I felt uncomfortable. I was kind of frozen, and I was shocked. At kind of just the overall audacity to do this right, right beside me,” Garcia told NBC News in an interview Tuesday.
A day later, Garcia claims Stallion warned him, “Don’t ever discuss what you saw.” According to the lawsuit, Garcia claims that during the same trip, Stallion called him a “fat bitch,” told him to “spit your food out,” and said, “You don’t need to be eating.” The complaint claims that the “harassment was so severe or pervasive” that it created a “hostile, abusive work environment” for Garcia. “To hear someone who advocates about loving your body tell me these things,” Garcia told NBC. “I felt degraded.” Additionally, upon returning from Ibiza, Garcia claims that his compensation structure had changed from a monthly flat rate to being paid per task and that he saw a decrease in bookings from Stallion and her team.
On top of the harassment allegations, the lawsuit accuses Stallion and her companies of a number of wage and employment violations. The suit states that Garcia did not have basic insurance coverage while working for the singer. Garcia claims that he was employed by Stallion up until June 2023, when Roc Nation notified him the night before a scheduled gig that “his services would no longer be required.” In the release, Garcia’s law firm claimed the former cameraman believes his firing “was in direct retaliation for his complaints about the ongoing illegal behavior and failure to pay him properly.”
The alleged behavior caused Garcia to face a loss in earnings and other employment benefits, as well as physical injuries, physical sickness, and emotional distress, according to the lawsuit.On top of the alleged back pay, Garcia told NBC he is seeking interest on his unpaid wages, unpaid overtime wages, “statutory penalties and wage penalties pursuant to California labor laws,” and punitive damages to cover the costs he incurred, including attorney fees.
“Megan just needs to pay our client what he’s due, own up to her behavior and quit this sort of sexual harassment and fat shaming conduct,” Ron Zambrano, an attorney for Garcia who also represented the former dancers who sued Lizzo last year, said in a press release. “Emilio should never have been put in a position of having to be in the vehicle with her while she had sex with another woman. ‘Inappropriate’ is putting it lightly. Exposing this behavior to employees is definitely illegal.”
“This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” Megan’s attorney Alex Spiro told the Cut in a statement. “We will deal with this in court.”
On Wednesday, Zambrano released another statement in response to Spiro’s commentary: “We have to stop expecting that those who work for stars should just deal with this egregious and illegal behavior and suck it up and be thankful for their access. That is a recipe for the abuse in treatment and underpayment.”
This post has been updated.
Tags:
- lawsuits
- celebrity
- megan thee stallion
- power
- workplace
- sexual harassment allegations
- body shaming
- workplace harassment
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