Aspiring singer accuses Jason Derulo of harassment, demanding sex in exchange for record deal: lawsuit

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News
·2 min read
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R&B artist Jason Derulo has been accused of quid pro quo sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed Thursday by an aspiring singer.

Emaza Gibson, 25, said the star berated her and terminated a record deal after she rejected his advances, NBC News reported.

“I have anxiety; I’m traumatized. I’ve dealt with inhumane work situations,” she told the outlet in a Wednesday interview. “I’m at this point where I’m back to zero, and I have nothing.”

Gibson said she first interacted with the “Whatcha Say” singer in August 2021, when Derulo reached out and said he wanted to sign her. At the time, Gibson had recently started a solo career, having previously recorded alongside her sister as the duo Ceraadi.

According to the lawsuit, Derulo and Gibson began working together on music to share with executives at Atlantic Records to convince them to approve the deal. Gibson said Derulo repeatedly invited her to a VIP lounge to get dinner and drinks.

At one point, Derulo made an “explicit demand for sex-in-exchange-for-success,” Gibson claimed in the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Gibson also described a November 2021 meeting with Atlantic executives in which another woman, identified only as Rosa, was unexpectedly also in attendance and implied that sleeping with Derulo helped her get the meeting.

When Gibson told Derulo afterward she’d been “thrown off guard” by Rosa’s sudden presence, he began screaming at her, according to the lawsuit. And at a June 2022 recording session, Derulo charged at Gibson and began berating her when she showed up late, Gibson told NBC News. In the suit, she said she feared for her safety during the incident.

Gibson was dropped from her Atlantic contract on Sept. 6, 2022, according to the lawsuit.

“I’m just trying to fight for what’s right, because what was done to me was not OK,” Gibson told NBC News. “And I wouldn’t want anybody else to go through what I went through.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Derulo had not publicly responded to the lawsuit.