A former NFL player is suing the CEO of a Metaverse company, alleging she pressured him to play “sexually harassing games” and discriminated against him because he’s black.
Teyo Johnson, a former tight end for the Oakland Raiders, filed a lawsuit against Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio in August, alleging that she runs a toxic work environment.
He alleges in an amended lawsuit obtained by the New York Post that Yorio pushed him into “sexually harassing games” in which employees and customers were encouraged to sleep together.
Lawyers for Metaverse — which develops and sells virtual real estate — have vehemently denied those allegations to the Post, instead claiming that Johnson made the inappropriate comments at his New York offices.
Teyo Johnson, a former tight end for the Oakland Raiders, filed a lawsuit against Everyrealm and its CEO Janine Yario in August
He alleges in court documents recently obtained by the New York Post that Yorio (pictured) pushed him into “sexually harassing games” to sleep with co-workers and clients
But Johnson’s lawsuit is just one of three lawsuits against the virtual reality company that have accused Yorio of sexually harassing black employees and subjecting them to racist language — once even threatening to “swap” Johnson if he gave his work not done.
Together they are seeking $1.9 million in damages from the Andreessen Horowitz-backed company that “invests in and develops virtual worlds.”
In his lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, Johnson alleges that Yorio encouraged him to play a “sex-related game” during a business trip to SxSW festival in August.
According to the lawsuit, seen by the New York Post, Yorio used the euphemisms “KYP,” meaning “know your staff,” and “KYC,” meaning “know your customer,” to “have sex or meet with your co-workers.” to meet” to designate and business partners.’
She reportedly told Johnson, who served as the company’s director of strategic partnerships, that “the way to play the game” is “to get laid by a colleague on a business trip.”
Yorio is then accused of asking him if he would “do a KYP” on the trip, which stunned Johnson, the suit says.
He said he “politely informed her that he was “already very close with someone.”
But later that evening, Johnson claimed Yorio went to his Austin hotel room and “indicated in no uncertain terms that she believed he was “cheating” on his girlfriend in order to “enter the company’s KYP game.”
Johnson also claims he was unfairly fired after refereeing a potentially illegal gambling project
The lawsuit also alleges that Yorio made offensive jokes about Johnson’s girlfriend’s menstrual cycle, calling him both the “stupid black person” and the “whitest black person.”
She also reportedly called him a “D***,” a “big swinging D***,” and a “f****** D***.”
And the lawsuit alleges that William Kerr, the company’s general counsel, once called Paris Hilton — an Everyrealm investor pictured with Yorio at past events — a “night in Paris,” the revenge porn video’s title leaked to the internet in the year 2004.
Johnson, whose job required managing celebrity accounts like Hilton’s, is said to have been horrified that he had to listen to the derogatory comments and nicknames to carry out his job duties.
has reached out to Metaverse’s lawyers for comment.
The lawsuit also alleges that an attorney for Everyrealm made disparaging remarks about Paris Hilton, an investor who has been pictured with Yorio in the past
Johnson was hired by the company in July 2022, when he said Yorio told the then human resources manager, “Teyo is the whitest black man I’ve ever met,” only to later insist that she “meant well.” .
Soon after, Johnson says, he learned that he was the lowest-paid director at the company, earning a base salary of $125,000 and a $40,000 discretionary bonus.
Then, while holding a successful partnership meeting with LeBron James’ entertainment company Spring Hills, Yorio reportedly told Johnson, “[You’re] Lucky it went well, now I don’t have to trade you in.”
Ultimately, Johnson claims he was fired in retaliation for pointing out a potentially illegal cryptocurrency “gambling scheme” in which NFT playing cards were used by professional soccer players.
According to the lawsuit filed in August, the scheme involved “a cryptocurrency version of fantasy sports where users would buy packs of NFTs representing professional soccer player cards.”
It explains, “Users would enter cryptocurrencies into a pool and then win prize money if their NFT playing cards performed better than other players’ NFTs.
But, according to the lawsuit, Everyrealm did not have a gaming license in New York — where it is based, and “reasonably believed” that the game would “violate numerous New York and federal laws” because “the card games would be randomized… to qualify as gambling and thus be illegal.’
After raising his concerns to his superiors and the NFT project was scrapped, it claims Yorio was “mad” at Johnson and he ended up in their “dog kennel”.
In the aftermath, the lawsuit alleges, his proposal to establish a relationship between Everyrealm and NFL.com was sabotaged by Yorio and other executives.
Johnson said he met with NFL.com executives to partner and created a project plan with a request to have 3D graphics designed for the proposal.
Julia Schwartz, a member of the board of directors, asked to be “kept in the toilet” in the episode and said she wanted to write the proposal herself, according to the lawsuit.[‘intheaftermathandsaidshewantedtowritetheproposalherselfaccordingtothesuit[‘intheaftermathandsaidshewantedtowritetheproposalherselfaccordingtothesuit
“However, within days it became clear that not only had Ms. Schwartz not started writing the bid, but she was also secretly preventing someone in her department from providing Mr. Johnson with the 3D graphics he requested,” the lawsuit reads .
Under pressure to finalize the proposal, Johnson decided to write the proposal himself and included a Yorio-suggested skybox hangout where fans of each NFL team could virtually meet with the players.
But when he handed it to Yorio, the lawsuit alleges, she refused to send the proposal back to NFL.com, telling Johnson, “We don’t have to detail what we can build, we have to be vague.”
Everyrealm is a virtual reality real estate company that “invests in and develops virtual worlds”
A spokesman for the company has now vehemently denied the allegations to the Post, calling them “lies”.
“As we found in our court filings, this employee worked with the company for only three months and was terminated for poor performance, expense account abuse, and falling asleep at work.”
The company also alleges in court documents that Johnson “openly and routinely disparaged the mother of his child and demanded that Everyrealm pay a portion of his wages in cash to avoid garnishment on his child support payments.”
Company bosses rejected his request, they claim.
“Johnson made various inappropriate comments at work about other women in his life, bullied a junior employee by calling her a ‘rookie’ and refused to meet with her,” company executives allege.
They also said Johnson referred to Schwartz, a co-founder of the company, as “that b****” and Yorio as “that crazy b****.”
But Johnson isn’t the only former employee to level these kinds of allegations against Everyrealm and its executives.