Kehinde Wiley ©Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The artist Kehinde Wiley is being sued in New York by a woman who claims that he sexually assaulted her at a restaurant in 2007. This follows similar allegations made against Wiley last year by four different men. All claims, including the most recent, have been denied by the artist, who may be best known for painting President Barack Obama’s Smithsonian portrait.
In February, an artist named Ogechi Chieke filed the lawsuit against Wiley. According to Chieke, she met Wiley for the first time at a 2007 gallery opening for a group show in which Chieke’s work was included. She was “flattered that he was interested in her work,” according to the lawsuit.
While waiting for a table for dinner after the gallery opening, Chieke alleges that Wiley pressed himself against her, grabbed her backside with both hands and pulled her closer to him. It was at that point that Wiley “forcibly grabbed her vagina—causing her severe pain” and made sexually explicit remarks, the lawsuit claims. Chieke was so upset that she left before dinner, according to the lawsuit, and ultimately left New York and the art world altogether.
“As a result of Wiley’s violent sexual assaults, Ms. Chieke has suffered from severe psychological and emotional distress,” the lawsuit states.
The suit was filed in New York under the city’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which allowed plaintiffs a two-year window to initiate civil lawsuits in cases that would otherwise have lapsed standard statutes of limitations. The lawsuit was first reported on by The Independent.
“There is no truth to Ms. Chieke’s allegations. I’ve never met her, nor do I know her,” Wiley said in a statement to The Art Newspaper, calling the lawsuit a “blatant money-grab”.
“It’s hardly a coincidence that this latest scam is occurring in the same 12-month period where others tried to shake me down,” Wiley added.
While Wiley was accused of sexual assault by four others last year, this is the first time an accusation has been made against the artist in court. In May 2024, the British Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko was the first to come forward on social media with allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that Wiley groped him at a dinner in Ghana. Later that night, Awuah-Darko says that a sexual encounter between the two began consensually but shifted into Wiley assaulting him. Wiley denies the allegations, claiming their contact was a “consensual sexual encounter that was in no way coercive or abusive”.
A few months later, the historian Terrell Armistead accused Wiley of sexually assaulting him after meeting at a bar in 2010. Armistead says he went to Wiley’s apartment and declined sex but woke up to Wiley performing a sexual act on him without his consent. Wiley denies ever meeting Armistead.
A fourth accuser, the activist Derrick Ingram (who helped organise New York’s Black Lives Matter marches), claimed Wiley sexually assaulted him during a months-long relationship. Wiley says their contact was limited to a single consensual encounter.
Three US museums postponed or cancelled solo shows dedicated to Wiley after news of the allegations broke: the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Minneapolis Museum of Art and Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
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