Megan Thee Stallion Accused of Harassment by Former Cameraman

Emilio Garcia is suing the rapper for unpaid wages and for creating a hostile work environment after he claims he was forced to watch her have sex with another woman in a car.

By Audra Heinrichs | April 24, 2024 | 12:46pm

Photos: Shutterstock Celebrities

Megan Thee Stallion Accused of Harassment by Former Cameraman

On Tuesday, Megan Thee Stallion’s former cameraman filed a lawsuit against the rapper, her touring business entity, Hot Girl Touring LLC, and her label, Roc Nation, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging a hostile work environment, harassment, and being forcibly subjected to witnessing Thee Stallion have sex with a woman in a moving vehicle.

In the filing, Emilio Garcia claimed he started working as the rapper’s personal cameraman in 2018 and remained with her until June 2023. During his tenure, he described the harassment—which allegedly included berating and fat-shaming—as “severe” and “pervasive.” Perhaps the most explosive accusation, however, is that Garcia was “trapped” in a moving vehicle with Megan as she had sex with another woman during a 2022 trip to Ibiza, Spain. Allegedly, Megan, three other women and Garcia were heading back to their accommodations after a night out when one of the women and the rapper began having sex next to them.

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“I felt uncomfortable,” Garcia claimed in an interview with NBC News. “I was kind of frozen, and I was shocked. At kind of just be the overall audacity to do this right, right beside me.”

Later, during that same trip, Megan confirmed whether Garcia was in the car with them after the night out. When he answered that he was, Megan allegedly told him: “Don’t ever discuss what you saw,” the suit states. Garcia also claimed in the days that followed, the rapper fat-shamed him, referring to him as a “fat bitch” and telling him to “spit your food out” and “you don’t need to be eating.”

“To hear someone who advocates about loving your body tell me these things,” Garcia told NBC News. “I felt degraded.”

Ultimately, Garcia claimed he was booked significantly less following the trip and was eventually phased out of Megan’s schedule completely without adequate compensation for his hours, especially as an independent contractor who didn’t have health insurance or benefits.

“What I learned throughout the years is that, especially coming from an office environment, is you know, there’s no HR department in the entertainment business,” Garcia told NBC News in an interview. “So if you don’t know that you’re being done wrong, you don’t really know how to advocate for yourself until you start asking maybe you start asking your peers who have representation, they have agents, they have management, they have an attorney. So I just really just want to encourage people to advocate for themselves.”

Meanwhile, the rapper’s attorney, Alex Spiro, refuted the allegations to NBC News.

“This is an employment claim for money—with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” he said. “We will deal with this in court.”

Garcia is reportedly seeking “more than six figures” in unpaid wages (including interest), unpaid overtime wages, and other employee benefits. He is also pursuing statutory and wage penalties and punitive damages including attorneys’ fees. The cameraman claimed that since he stopped working with the rapper, he’s struggled with “mounting anxiety, depression, and physical distress stemming from the toxic work environment.”

“Megan just needs to pay our client what he’s due, own up to her behavior and quit this sort of sexual harassment and fat shaming conduct,” Ron Zambrano, an attorney for Garcia (the same one who currently represents the three dancers suing Lizzo), told NBC News. “Emilio should never have been put in a position of having to be in the vehicle with her while she had sex with another woman. ‘Inappropriate’ is putting it lightly. Exposing this behavior to employees is definitely illegal.”