A former cameraman for rap star Megan Thee Stallion is suing her for harassment and for creating a “hostile, abusive work environment,” according to documents obtained by NBC News. Emilio Garcia told NBC that he worked for the star, whose real name is Megan Pete, starting in 2018 through June 2023.
Megan denied the allegations soon after, with her attorney, Alex Spiro, telling Page Six: “This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her. We will deal with this in court.”
Garcia alleged that things went downhill for him after he was forced to watch Pete have sex while trapped inside a moving vehicle with her and an unidentified woman in 2022, after he accompanied the star to Ibiza, Spain.
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He expanded on the experience in an interview with NBC News, in which he said, “I felt uncomfortable. I was kind of frozen, and I was shocked. At kind of just be the overall audacity to do this right, right beside me.”
The former employee said that the experience left him feeling “degraded.” He also said in the suit that after the vehicle incident, the rapper treated him differently. According to Garcia via NBC, she told him “don’t ever discuss what you saw,” that day in the car. After that, Garcia said that she fat-shamed him and made comments about how he needed to “spit his food out” and called him a “fat bitch.”
He expressed his surprise at hearing these things from “someone who advocates about loving your body,” and added that the “harassment was so severe or pervasive” that the working conditions became “intolerable.” To make matters worse, in addition to the treatment, according to Garcia’s filing, his pay was also affected. He alleged that he was downgraded from a monthly flat rate to being paid per task, and had an overall decrease in work requests from the rapper.
Garcia said he considered leaving his post but was let go by Pete’s management team at Roc Nation, on her behalf, before he could do so. His suit also mentions that Garcia felt wrongly classified as an independent contractor, which caused him to miss out on healthcare benefits. The suit said he now suffers from “mounting anxiety, depression, and physical distress,” as a result of working for Pete. He is now seeking more than six figures in damages.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Megan Thee Stallion and Emilio Garcia for comment but has not yet received a response.
