Jason Derulo signed a singer, then dropped her after she rebuffed his sexual advances, she alleges in a lawsuit
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Emza Gibson is suing former So You Think You Can Dance judge Jason Derulo. She accuses the singer of breaking their record deal after she rejected his sexual advances.
NBC news reports that after Gibson turned down repeated invitations from Derulo to dine and drink alcohol, he turned cold and eventually dropped her deal. She accuses Derulo of quid pro quo sexual harassment.
During her time working with The Voice Australia coach, Gibson claims that she endured aggressive behavior, unwanted invitations, and implications that she’d have to have sex with him to advance and she feared for her safety.
“I’m at this point in my life right now, it’s very heartbreaking,” Gibson said in an interview Wednesday with NBC News. “I have anxiety; I’m traumatized. I’ve dealt with inhumane work situations. … I’m at this point where I’m back to zero and I have nothing.”
A representative for Derulo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Derulo reached out to the singer for a joint venture with Atlantic Records
Gibson, now 25, moved to Los Angeles in 2008 with her sisters to pursue a music career, forming the musical act Ceraadi and growing a YouTube channel that has more than 1.25 million subscribers. Eventually Gibson became a solo act and continued to create viral dance videos.
Derulo was aware of Ceraadi and invited the group to a work session, Gibson said.
In August 2021, Derulo reached out to Gibson as a solo artist for a joint venture between his music imprint, Future History, and Atlantic Records. The deal would require Gibson to produce a mixtape in four months and an album in six, according to the lawsuit.
A single featuring Derulo was also part of the contract. ”’I’m like, OK, well, Jason is a great artist — big, international, powered with Atlantic — this should be a no-brainer, and I should be able to, you know, start my solo career,” Gibson told NBC news.
Even after the singer insisted she didn’t drink, she claims Derulo kept trying to ply her with alcohol
After she started working with Derulo, he would often invite her out for drinks and dinner and to drink during their studio sessions. She continually declined.
Once, in September 2021, Gibson agreed to have a drink with Derulo in the studio and was given “inappropriately large amounts of alcohol,” the suit says. Gibson took a sip and told him it was too strong.
“I told him that I wasn’t a drinker … so it’s like, you know, you’re not listening to that the first time I tell you, and you’re still pushing on me,” Gibson said. “It’s, like, pressure at this point.”
Eventually, Gibson told Derulo that she was against compromising her morals to get ahead in the music business. He replied with a weird expression, that she might have to take part in “goat skin and fish scales.” Gibson took that as an “explicit demand for sex-in-exchange-for-success.”
Derulo eventually grew cold and attempted to ghost her
When Derulo brought another woman to a meeting with Atlantic executives, she admitted to Gibson that she was having sexual relations with Derulo. After Gibson confronted him, he blew up at her. She eventually signed a deal with Atlantic, but he failed to assign her a project manager and ignored her messages.
After complaining to Atlantic, Derulo eventually began working with her. But after she arrived late to a session and Derulo became aggressively angry with her, she never saw him again.
In July 2022, Gibson contacted the A&R executive at Atlantic Records. According to the lawsuit, the executive acknowledged Derulo’s behavior and told Gibson “the Atlantic team wants you to win, but I can’t say the same for Jason.”
Gibson was dropped from Atlantic and Future History on Sept. 6, 2022, according to her lawsuit.
Gibson’s lawsuit accuses Derulo, his imprint and Atlantic Records of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, a failure to remedy workplace harassment and violation of California’s civil rights act. The lawsuit seeks unpaid wages, loss of earnings, deferred compensation and other employment benefits and damages for emotional distress.
