By Chiara Piacentini
Staff Writer
Megan Thee Stallion’s former cameraman, Emilio Garcia, filed a lawsuit against the rapper on April 24, accusing her of harassment and creating a toxic work environment.
One notable claim included in the suit was being forced to watch the rapper, whose real name is Megan Pete, have sex with another woman while trapped in a moving car. The lawsuit alleges that during his trip to Ibiza, Spain in June 2022 with the singer and three other women, Pete engaged in sexual relations next to him with one of the women.
“I felt uncomfortable. I was kind of frozen, and I was shocked,” Garcia said in an interview with NBC News.
Garcia continued to claim in the suit that the day after the incident, Pete warned him not to “ever discuss what you saw.”
During that same trip, the lawsuit also mentions that he was the target of fat-shaming insults from the entertainer, including calling him a “fat b—” and making comments like “you don’t need to be eating” and “spit your food out.”
“What I’ve learned throughout the years is that, especially coming from an office environment, there’s no HR department in the entertainment business,” Garcia said.
Since that trip ended, Garcia claimed in the lawsuit that his pay setup was changed from a salary of $4,000 a month to being paid per assignment for the rapper. The suit states that he was “essentially working during all waking hours of a day,” without being allowed breaks. Since the suit also alleges that he was mistitled as an independent contractor, this meant that he could not qualify for health insurance or overtime pay.
By June 2023, Garcia had been making plans to quit because of Pete’s “possessiveness,” unfair pay and lack of bookings, according to his lawsuit. However, based on the suit’s contents, it appears that the company Megan Thee Stallion is managed by, Roc Nation, decided his fate for him by notifying him that his “services were no longer needed.”
Garcia believes, as he mentions in his suit, that this termination was in response to reporting the harassment instances and lack of fair compensation.
As a result of these experiences, Garcia claims in the lawsuit that he “grapples with mounting anxiety, depression and physical distress stemming from the toxic work environment, compounded by the trauma of unpaid work.”
According to NBC, Garcia is requesting over “six figures in damages.” The lawsuit also outlines his demands for interest for his unpaid time and overtime as well as other employee benefits.
“This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” Pete’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said. “We will deal with this in court.”
Garcia’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, has since responded to this statement.
“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,” Zambrano said. “That is a recipe for the abuse in treatment and underpayment, not only in this lawsuit, but in many other stories that are yet to be told.”
