La Roux has backed claims by a model who alleged Kanye West choked her and subjected her to “pornographic gagging” with his fingers on a music video set.
Jennifer An, who was a finalist on America’s Next Top Model in 2009, sued West for sexual assault under New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act in November 2024.
In a suit filed at the time, the plaintiff alleged that West came to the set of the video for La Roux’s hit ‘In For The Kill’ at Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel, on which she was a background actor, and staged “his own production” without any resistance “in a manner similar to pornographic gagging/deep throat/BDSM fetishes.”
An alleged that West came to the set, pointed to her and said, “Give me the Asian girl.” She claims West was “towering over” her and “breathing heavily” when he subsequently directed the camera crew to zoom on her face to capture the alleged assault.
“On camera, defendant West began to choke plaintiff with one hand. He then wrapped his other hand around her neck and continued to strangle her with both hands,” the lawsuit alleged. “He then rammed several fingers down her throat, continuously moved them in and out, and gagged her.”
An claims that West used his fingers “to emulate forced oral sex” while allegedly screaming, “This is art. This is fucking art. I am like Picasso.”
West’s lawyers have since filed a motion to dismiss the case on a variety of grounds, including the argument that because West’s conduct “occurred in the course of producing expressive” art, his actions should be shielded by free-speech protections.
But in a new filing yesterday (Tuesday March 10), An’s lawyers pushed back submitting new affidavits to corroborate her claims including alleged Instagram exchanges from La Roux (real name Elly Jackson) who remembered the choking incident vividly. “I could never forget that, it was horrific,” the singer wrote, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone.
In the 2024 messages, An reached out to the singer through the official La Roux account to ask whether she remembered the incident. Jackson confirmed that she did, according to the court documents, writing: “I have never seen the footage (thankfully) and obviously I asked for it to never be used or for it to be seen as you were understandably very concerned about anyone or your family seeing it.”
“I’m so sorry it happened,” Jackson added.
The court documents show additional messages where the singer acknowledged that she previously publicly referred to the incident, but told An she felt that “it wasn’t my story to tell” and that West “already threatened me in some way.”
Jackson added, per the documents: “He wanted to remind me of his power and status and threatened me with my career essentially. I’ve obviously continued to say how I feel about him regardless but I haven’t told your story out of respect for you.”
NME has contacted Kanye West for comment.
Also included in the exhibits was a signed statement from Liz Martins, a makeup artist who was on set that day, which offers further corroboration. Martins wrote that she saw West “forcefully put his fingers down [An’s] mouth and told her to, ‘Suck on them.’”
“This sexual assault was not a part of the script,” Martins added. “Everyone on set was shocked and nervous to step in because of Kanye’s influence. Afterwards, [An] was crying and I heard her repeatedly say, ‘My mom is going to see this. I don’t want my mom to see this.’”
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.