Gaga Lawsuit: Lady Gaga’s Ex-Assistant Sues for $380,000 Unpaid Overtime Pay, Claims She Was a ‘Slave’ (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 26, 2011
Lady Gaga is being sued by her former assistant who claims she was a 'slave' for the pop star
All is not well in Gaga-land.
A former assistant of Lady Gaga’s has filed a lawsuit against the 25-year-old pop sensation. Jennifer O’Neill says she was a “slave” for the singer, whom she calls “a greedy monster,” and that O’Neill is owed more than $380,000 in overtime back pay for the 13 grueling months she worked for Lady Gaga as her personal assistant.
O’Neill states that she had to be on beck and call for the singer without breaks, often deprived of meals or sleep, while handling her demanding tour schedules. She said she was expected to act as a personal alarm clock and myriad other personal, unreasonable whims for Lady Gaga at all hours. She claims she was expected to be at the ready to hand a towel to the singer after she took a shower.
Lady Gaga was recently named the highest-earning female artist of 2011, taking the top spot on Forbes’ Top Earning Women in Music list. She earned $90 million (£58 million) this year. She’s been sued before — a former producer filed a lawsuit against her for $35 million last year.
A spokesperson for Lady Gaga says that O’Neill’s lawsuit is “without merit.”
Hmm. That towel business sounds over-the-top diva-like. And gross.
From ABC News, Lady Gaga Sued by Ex-Assistant:
Merry Christmas, Lady Gaga, you’re being sued.
The pop icon was gifted with a lawsuit last week from an ex-personal assistant who claims she was overworked and underpaid. In legal documents filed in Manhattan federal court, Jennifer O’Neill, 41, alleges that Gaga, 25, (real name: Stefani Germanotta) owes her hundreds of thousands of dollars for her 13-month stint as the pop star’s right-hand woman during her 2010 Monster Ball world tour.
Among her tasks, according to court papers obtained by the New York Post, was ”ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep [Gaga] on schedule.” O’Neill claims she catered to Gaga’s every need, at the star’s home and in “stadiums, private jets, fine hotel suites, yachts, ferries, trains and tour buses.”
O’Neill paints a bleak picture of serving the pop princess. In court papers, she says there were no breaks for meals “or, at times, even sleep.” She was obliged to be at Gaga’s beck and call from her “earliest waking hour” to “spontaneous, random matters in the middle of the night.” She even played a part in the star’s legendary wardrobe, “ensuring the availability of chosen outfits” like Gaga’s infamous MTV Video Music Awards meat dress.
About that VMA meat dress… Lady Gaga’s infamous 35-pound beefsteak dress has been preserved by a taxidermist and is now on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.
Lady Gaga's controversial meat dress at the VMAs in September 2010
Lady Gaga’s former assistant sues for unpaid overtime
From NY Post, I was Gaga’s slave – Ex-aide blasts pop diva in lawsuit:
Lady Gaga is a monster — to work for.
Long Islander Jennifer O’Neill endured 13 long months as the domineering diva’s personal assistant — and claims she’s owned hundreds of thousands of dollars for the bad romance.
O’Neill, 41, says she had to cater to the 25-year-old pop superstar’s every whim, at every hour of the day and night, handling her schedule, finances and food.
She accompanied Gaga on her 2010 Monster Ball world tour.
The Garden City gal could barely muster a poker face while “ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep [Gaga] on schedule,” according to court papers.
Gaga was a drag, demanding service everywhere — at her Upper West Side duplex, as well as in “stadiums, private jets, fine hotel suites, yachts, ferries, trains and tour buses.”
There were no breaks for meals “or, at times, even sleep,” and O’Neill was required to be on hand for anything the Grammy Award-winning singer needed, at her “earliest waking hour” or for “spontaneous, random matters in the middle of the night,” O’Neill says in court papers.
Part of O’Neill’s $75,000-a-year job was “ensuring the availability of chosen outfits” — no small task considering her boss is best known for wearing a meat dress to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and dressing like a “human condom” for a February appearance on “Good Morning America.”
O’Neill’s Gaga gripes are part of a lawsuit she filed in Manhattan federal court last week against the superstar’s Mermaid Touring company for $380,000 in unpaid overtime.
Her claims don’t appear to be unique.
Another former personal assistant, Angela Ciemny, was required to sleep with Gaga most nights because the needy diva refused to be alone, according to the book “Poker Face: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga.”
Ciemny, who had worked for Gaga in 2009, said she and the “Born This Way” singer sometimes did their makeup together and would even hop in the shower at the same time.
From TMZ, Lady Gaga Lawsuit Whiney Assistant Claims Gaga Demanded Towel After Shower!:
In what reads like one of the biggest sour grapes lawsuits of the year, Lady Gaga’s former assistant claims she was a slave to the singer, having to do such unconscionable things as fetching a towel for her after she showered, and keeping GG on schedule!
Jennifer O’Neill says in her lawsuit … she worked for Gaga for 13 months, and is owed $380,000 in overtime. O’Neill says in her suit her job included “ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep [Gaga] on schedule.”
O’Neill claims she had to cater to Gaga in “stadiums, private jets, fine hotel suites, yachts, ferries, trains and tour buses.”
And, O’Neill says, she was required to be at Gaga’s beck and call at her “earliest waking hour.”
O’Neill is suing for the $380k — which represents 7,168 hours of overtime during the 13 months.
More from Digital Journal:
Her lawsuit claims she was kept busy doing such things as“ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep (her boss) on schedule” and “ensuring the availability of chosen outfits.” Given Gaga’s penchant for wearing in giant eggs, meat dresses, bubble dresses and super-sized condoms, dressing her may be a job onto itself.
New York Post writer Kathianne Boniello broke the story and since it has been picked up by numerous new sites, including TMZ, the Daily Mail and CBS. There has yet to be any media that has managed a direct quote about the complaint from Lady Gaga, who is celebrating Christmas in Japan. Her reps issued a statement saying O’Neill’s lawsuit is “completely without merit.”
The Monster Ball tour, one of the highest grossing tours in the history of rock, actually began on Nov. 27 of 2009 in Montreal, Canada and ended May 6, 2011 in Mexico City. It’s unclear exactly how many shows of the 201 that comprised the tour O’Neill worked with Gaga on, but she worked virtually every show in the year 2010.
Lady Gaga's arrival at MTV Video Music Awards in 2010 - click image to enlarge
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