A former reality TV model has gone public with disturbing allegations against the iconic but controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, claiming he assaulted her during a 2010 music video shoot and left her terrified and disrespected. Jennifer An, who competed on *America’s Next Top Model* in 2009, has detailed her account of the encounter in an exclusive interview with the BBC’s *Fame Under Fire* podcast, more than 14 years after the alleged incident took place.
An was 24 years old when she landed a casting spot for the music video of La Roux’s breakout hit *In For The Kill*, a gig that came as a promising career step following her television appearance. When she arrived on set at New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel, she had no advance warning that Ye would be attending the shoot. According to An’s account, the production team suddenly halted filming and scrambled to prepare when word spread that Ye was arriving, lining all models up in a hallway for him to select from for an unplanned cameo scene. Ye ultimately chose three models, including An, to join his sequence.
An alleges that after struggling to recall his lines for the planned shoot, Ye abruptly pivoted to film an impromptu new scene. He positioned An in a chair directly in front of the camera, seated himself out of frame facing her, and gave no prior direction or warning about what would happen next. Once filming began, An says Ye suddenly reached out and began choking her with one hand, then added a second hand to the choke, smeared her stage makeup across her face, and forced his fingers into her mouth in a movement that simulated oral sex. She recalled feeling frozen with fear, worried that speaking up would cost her the job and derail her budding modeling career, while crew members stood by without intervening, simply staring at the encounter. When it ended, An alleges Ye declared “this is art, I’m Picasso” before abruptly gathering his things and leaving the set without a word.
Ye never appeared in the final cut of the released music video, though he did feature as a guest rapper on an official remix of the track. Immediately after the incident, An said she spoke to La Roux’s frontwoman Elly Jackson, who apologized for what occurred and agreed not to include the footage out of respect for An’s privacy. In 2024, An reached out to Jackson via Instagram to revisit the incident, and Jackson confirmed her memory of the event, calling it “horrific” in written messages that have since been submitted as evidence in court. Jackson also claimed that after the encounter, Ye whispered to her that he “bet you think I just put women back about 10 years,” to which she replied that he had actually set women back 500 years.
An filed a civil lawsuit against Ye in 2024 under New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, a law that temporarily extends the statute of limitations for survivors of sexual and gender-based assault. The case has not yet gone to trial. Earlier this year, Ye’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the suit, confirming the encounter took place but framing it as an “intense and provocative theatrical performance” inspired by a scene from the cult film *American Psycho*. The defense argues that Ye is protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of artistic expression, and claims An was a consenting participant who never objected to the scene or attempted to leave.
An’s legal counsel, Jesse Weinstein, has pushed back against this argument, warning that dismissing the case would set a dangerous precedent that allows artists to commit harmful, non-consensual acts against other people in creative spaces simply by labeling their behavior as art. Ye, who has been one of the most polarizing figures in popular culture over the last decade, has previously drawn widespread backlash for repeated antisemitic remarks and pro-Nazi content. He has apologized for his antisemitic comments in the past and attributed his well-documented erratic behavior to his public diagnoses of autism and bipolar disorder. The BBC has reached out to Ye’s representatives, La Roux’s label Universal Music Group, and other involved parties for additional comment, and has not received further response from Ye as of reporting.
For anyone affected by the issues raised in this story, support resources are available through BBC Action Line.