Emilio Garcia, a former cameraman for rapper Megan Thee Stallion, filed a lawsuit against the musician in Los Angeles County on April 23, Tuesday, saying that he was subjected to a hostile work environment and harassment. According to court documents, Garcia alleged that Megan (whose legal name is Megan Pete) forced him to watch her have sex with another woman, then bullied him in the aftermath. After raising those issues in a conversation with Megan, he was unfairly fired soon the following day after working with her for four years.
Allegations and further claims
Garcia alleges he was trapped in a moving SUV when Megan and a woman began to have sex in Spain in June 2022, according to the lawsuit. He claims he felt traumatized by the ordeal and was instructed by the rapper “don’t ever discuss what you saw” when she learned he was present in the vehicle. Elsewhere in the filing, Megan is accused of berating and fat-shaming Garcia by commenting such as, “spit your food out,” “you don’t need to be eating,” and “fat bitch.” He also claimed that she was failing to pay him commensurately with his work “during all waking hours of the day,” and switching to a “pay-per-task” invoicing system that “significantly” reduced his overall salary. The former videographer said the “toxic work environment” left him with “mounting anxiety, depression, and physical distress,” according to the filing.
The lawsuit details nine complaints against Megan, her touring business entity, Hot Girl Touring LLC, and her label, Roc Nation, including harassment and several wage and labor law violations. The complaint alleges that Garcia was not repay appropriately for the hours he worked, which the suit describes as “essentially…all waking hours of a day,” in a role that the suit claims misclassified him as an independent contractor and denied him overtime pay and meal breaks.
“More than once, Stallion interrupted Plaintiff during dinner and demanded that he immediately shift his focus to assist with her TikTok creative ideas—i.e., Plaintiff stepped away from dinner and worked on the phone in a quiet space of a given restaurant,” one part of the complaint claims.
No court date has been set yet for the suit, in which Garcia has requested a jury trial.
Megan Thee Stallion’s response
Megan is represented by Miami-based attorney Alex Spiro, who has also represented high-powered celebrities like Jay-Z, Elon Musk, and Alec Baldwin. She stated, “This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her.”
“Such harassment was so severe or pervasive that it altered the terms and conditions of Plaintiff’s employment, creating a hostile, abusive work environment and making his working conditions intolerable,” the lawsuit reads, according to documents obtained by Vulture. Garcia worked with Megan from 2018 until he was fired in June 2023. His attorney say it was “direct retaliation for his complaints.”
Megan’s previous legal involvement
Megan was previously involved in major legal drama and faced a wrath of online abuse as the victim of a shooting by rapper Tory Lanez, who a jury found fired at her feet on a street in the Hollywood Hills in 2020. She testified at the trial where jurors convicted Lanez of three felonies and a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Already a major rising artist at the time of the shooting, Megan has since become one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No.1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyonce, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”
