Pop star Jason Derulo has been accused in a new lawsuit of dropping a record deal for an aspiring singer after she rejected his sexual advances. In an interview with NBC News, Emaza Gibson, 25, accuses Derulo, 34, of aggressive behavior, sexual harassment, implications that she’d have to have sex with him to advance her career, and fear for her safety.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, Gibson says she had already established herself as a successful YouTuber when Derulo approached her in 2021. She claims he offered her a joint deal with Atlantic Records and his own imprint, Future History, that would require her to make an album within six months.
As Gibson worked to fulfill her obligations to the labels, she said Derulo frequently invited her out and pressured her to drink with him in the studio. When she said that she did not want to violate her morals for her career, Gibson said that Derulo told her she might have to engage in “goat skin and fish scales,” which the aspiring singer believed was a reference to sacrificial rituals involving sex.
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As time passed, Gibson claimed she considered Derulo’s actions—including invitations for late-night studio sessions—an “explicit demand for sex-in-exchange-for-success.”
Gibson’s lawsuit also details incidents of Derulo becoming enraged and screaming at Gibson, including one time when she was running late to a recording session and Derulo “charged” at her in front of her mother and his staff.
That was the last time Gibson saw Derulo, she says, and she was eventually dropped by Atlantic Records in September 2022, according to her suit.
Gibson and her mother say they have tried to contact Atlantic Records through email to discuss Derulo’s “sexually, emotionally and physically inappropriate behavior,” but have gotten no response.
“I’m just trying to fight for what’s right, because what was done to me was not OK,” Gibson told NBC News. “And I wouldn’t want anybody else to go through what I went through. They wasted my time. They promised me things. ... ‘Forget the contract.’ That’s what I was told. But if I wasn’t going to do, if I wasn’t doing my part according to this contract, I would be in trouble. I would be held accountable.”
Gibson’s lawsuit accuses Derulo, Future History, and Atlantic Records of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, a failure to remedy workplace harassment, and violation of California’s civil rights act. She is seeking unpaid wages, loss of earnings, deferred compensation, and other employment benefits and damages for emotional distress.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Derulo and Atlantic Records for comment.
