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Janine Yorio: Ex-NFL star Teyo Johnson sues Everyrealm CEO for 'pressuring' him to sleep with coworkers

Teyo Johnson has accused Janine Yorio of reportedly making ugly references about employees’ sex lives and using racial slurs aimed at Black employees

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Teyo Johnson, a former tight end for NFL team Oakland Raiders, has alleged that Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio ran a "toxic work environment". The player, who also represented Stanford University as an undergraduate, has accused Yorio of reportedly making ugly references about employees’ sex lives and using racial slurs aimed at Black employees. According to Johnson, the CEO of the metaverse company threatened him that she is going to "trade" him if he failed to perform in his job.

This was revealed after the ex-NFL star filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Yori and Everyrealm, which is backed by Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, the company that has also worked with top celebrity endorsers, including Paris Hilton, Will Smith, and The Weeknd. In the lawsuit, Johnson also pointed out that he was "pressured" by Yorio into playing "sexually harassing games", where clients and coworkers were encouraged to sleep together. In March, Johnson claimed that Yorio told him about a "sex-related game that she encouraged employees to play" while on a business trip to the SXSW (South By Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas. As per the lawsuit filed, "KYP," which stands for know your personnel or KYC (know your client), were nothing but "euphemisms for having sex or hooking up with co-workers and business partners", according to New York Times.

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The athlete alleged that Yorio told him "the way to play the game" is to "get laid by a co-worker on a business trip." Then, the CEO asked Johnson whether "he would be doing any KYP." He was "taken aback" by Yorio’s alleged suggestion and "politely informed her that he was already really close with someone." According to the lawsuit, that same evening, Yorio came to his hotel room in Austin and "insinuated in no uncertain terms that she believed he would" go ahead and cheat on his girlfriend "to participate in the company’s KYP game."

On being asked, the spokesperson of Everyrealm said in a statement, “As we have stated in our court filings, this employee worked at the company for only three months and was terminated for poor performance, expense account abuse, and falling asleep on the job.”

The firm also hit back saying, “[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 for child support payments.”

Gatsby Frimpong, an ex-Everyrealm employee also similarly accused Yorio in a lawsuit filed in December 2022. The Black staffer alleged that he was paid far less in comparison to the White engineering director in the company for the same work, and he wasn't promoted after he didn’t fall for her sexual advances.