Shaun White Settles Weird Sexual Harassment Lawsuit From Former Band Mate

Gold medal snowboarder, skater and surf enthusiast, Shaun White, landed on the public side of a sexual harassment case in August of 2016. Such allegations stem from the Google-able corners of the internet, including hair, (other men’s) dick pics, the sexualisation of poop and not-quite-bestiality brought on by his former band mate, Lena Zawaideh. The original claim (that garnered media attention) stated that Zawaideh was subjected to the “darker, misogynistic personality” of White during her seven years in his band, Bad Things.

In 2014, Lena was fired from the band after allegedly not cutting her hair. At first, she sought payment for some unpaid work. The sexual harassment claims came later, which Shaun vehemently denied. It’s worth noting, all of these claims are based on text threads, Shaun asking her to cut her hair, dress sexier and a few photos of very large penises. She also claims Shaun forced her to watch sexually disturbing videos “including a video sexualizing human fecal matter” entitled Church of Fudge. She also says Shaun forced her to watch a video where a couple kills a bear and have sex on top of it. Being this transpired from 2008 to 2014, when videos like Two Girls One Cup where common trickery, most can attest to watching something of this nature with or against there will at some point in the late noughties.

This is really important to me…

Shaun released a statement saying, “many years ago, I exchanged texts with a friend who is now using them to craft a bogus lawsuit. There is absolutely no coincidence to the time of her claims, and we will defend them vigorously in court.” You can view the texts here. 

“Zawaideh first sued White and his company in May 2016, alleging breach of contract for lack of payment of her $3,750 monthly retainer from September 2013 until August 2014. The original lawsuit didn’t contain any sexual harassment allegations,” states an article in USA Today.

“In February, White tried to compel Zawaideh to undergo a mental health examination after she claimed she suffered emotional and mental distress because of what happened. He later withdrew that request, and last week an attorney for Zawaideh filed a notice of unconditional settlement in the case and requested the case be dismissed. A trial date had been set for August in San Diego Superior Court.”

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.