Kanye West faces fresh trouble over model’s choking allegation

A model has accused rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, of choking her and forcing inappropriate contact during a 2010 music video shoot, telling the BBC she felt “suffocated, unsure and scared.”

Jennifer An, a former America’s Next Top Model contestant, is suing Ye over the alleged encounter. She said West “stuck his fingers in my mouth to simulate oral sex” while filming a cameo for La Roux’s song In For The Kill at the Chelsea Hotel in New York.

West’s lawyers do not deny the incident but claim it was part of an “intense and provocative theatrical performance” meant to emulate a scene from the film American Psycho.

An, who was 24 at the time, said she had no prior knowledge that West would be on set. She described being frozen during the shoot, with crew members failing to intervene.

“All of a sudden he just reaches a hand out and starts choking me… and then starts smearing my makeup all over my face and sticking his hands inside of my mouth,” An told the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast.

The encounter ended abruptly after West allegedly said, “This is art, I’m Picasso,” before leaving the set.

An later reached out to La Roux’s singer Elly Jackson, who confirmed the incident via Instagram messages submitted as evidence. Jackson described the encounter as “horrific” and said West “knew exactly what he was doing, he thought it was funny.”

The case, filed in 2024 under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, has not yet gone to trial. West’s lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the alleged actions occurred during an expressive art performance and that An did not object at the time.

An’s lawyer, Jesse Weinstein, said allowing such a defence could set a “really dangerous precedent” for creative spaces, where artists might feel entitled to act without consent.

West has faced controversy in recent years over offensive and antisemitic statements, for which he has since apologised, attributing some behaviour to previous diagnoses of autism and bipolar disorder.