Music

Model Sues Kanye West, Cites On-Set Assault During 2010 Music Video Shoot

Jennifer An alleges Kanye West assaulted her during the filming of La Roux's "In for the Kill" music video in 2010.

Rolling Stone·Jun 10, 2026·via Rolling Stone

Model Sues Kanye West, Cites On-Set Assault During 2010 Music Video Shoot

Courts and Crime

Model Suing Kanye West Alleges Rapper’s Behavior on Music Video Set ‘Just Felt Wrong’

Jennifer An alleges West assaulted her during the filming of La Roux's "In for the Kill" video in 2010

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June 10, 2026

Model Jennifer An, who rose to prominence as a finalist on the 2009 season of America’s Next Top Model , is speaking out against Kanye West in a new interview with the BBC . In 2024, she filed a civil suit against the rapper describing how he allegedly choked her and used his fingers to simulate oral sex on her during a shoot for La Roux’s “In for the Kill” music video in 2010. The footage was not included in the final cut. “I feel like he was like trying to touch as much as he could,” she told the news network.

She also described how she felt unsafe, as his alleged actions caught her by surprise. “All of a sudden he just reaches a hand out and starts choking me, and I’m just not sure what’s happening,” she said. “And then, he pulled his other hand out and starts choking me with both hands, and then starts smearing my makeup all over my face and sticking his hands inside of my mouth.” What West did to her makeup, she said, “just felt wrong.” When he finished, she said West, “yelled something like, ‘this is art, I’m Picasso.'” She claims he said something along the lines of, “OK, I got what I want,” and left.

As the alleged incident happened, An says the production staff watched without saying anything. The model said she didn’t attempt to stop West since she was scared she could lose her job.

A rep for La Roux’s label, Universal, did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

An told the BBC that La Roux agreed not to include the footage in the video. When An contacted La Roux in 2024, the musician wrote in an Instagram message that she remembered West’s alleged behavior, calling it “horrific,” as previously reported .

A rep for La Roux did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

The model filed the lawsuit in 2024 under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which temporarily extended the statute of limitations for civil suits related to sexual violence. West’s lawyers have sought to dismiss the suit, claiming that his actions were those of an artist and therefore protected by the First Amendment. The attorneys describe An as “a consenting participant in the stage performance,” which West likened to a scene from American Pyscho and, his lawyers say, “incidentally may have caused the Plaintiff [An] to have difficulty breathing.”

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A rep for West did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

An’s lawyer, Jesse Weinstein, told the BBC that the way West couched his alleged behavior as artistic expression was “a really dangerous precedent to set.”