A new lawsuit involving pop star Rihanna claims she was paid less to model for Gucci because she is Caribbean.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Former employee of the luxury fashion house, Josephine Robinson, has claimed that while working on the singer's contract for her 2008 campaign she was instructed by her boss, international tax counsel Stan Sherwood, to pay her less because she was not a US citizen.
"When Sherwood discovered that Rihanna was from a Caribbean Island, he told Robinson to 'tax the hell out of her' and find a way to allow Gucci to withhold 30 per cent of her fee," court records showed.
Ms Robinson is suing the high-end label for discrimination after she was dismissed last year for reporting unfair treatment. She is seeking over $5 million for what she called "an unrelenting barrage of racist comments and jokes at her expense by Sherwood and others at Gucci".
Controversy and court appearances continue to plague the 23-year-old Bahamas-born singer.
In 2009 she was the victim of a violent physical attack by her then-boyfriend, R&B singer Chris Brown, and in February this year she was sued by fashion photographer David LaChapelle for plagiarising his work in her music video for S&M. The video was banned in 11 countries for its explicit content.
Sex and violence are two major themes of her most recent album, Rated R, and the accompanying Last Girl on Earth world tour.
Over the weekend she shocked fans at a Baltimore concert by performing a lap dance on an unsuspecting female fan. Prior to that she was busy defending the video for her latest single which shows her shooting a man who appears to have sexually assaulted her.
"Girls are empowered by this. I'm just really impressed that my fans get it. That was really important to me. This is a story for them," she said.
Follow Jenna Clarke on Twitter @JennaMClarke
