Amirah “Amirror” Iman-Thiam, one of Akon’s four wives, has filed a lawsuit against Publix Super Markets after a traumatic 2022 incident where she says she was sexually assaulted by an employee while shopping. The rapper is seeking punitive damages for emotional distress, reputational harm, and lost earnings — alleging that Publix’s “negligence” not only caused her to feel unsafe, but derailed her career.
According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the assault occurred at a Publix location in Roswell, Georgia, when stock clerk Jonathan Ross, approached her near the organic snack section. Though that area was outside of his assigned duties, Ross allegedly lingered and watched her. As Amirah checked out her items, she says he whispered, “That dress got me rethinking my lunch break,” before bizarrely grabbing her buttocks and vaginal area.
Reportedly, Ross was already on management’s radar for prior erratic behavior. The store managers allegedly later admitted Ross had a troubling pattern of behavior yet remained unsupervised around customers. Per outlet, bodycam footage showed Iman-Thiam visibly shaken as she reported the incident to police, and Ross ultimately confessed and was convicted of sexual battery.
The trauma, she claims, “metastasized.” Court filings state that the emotional distress forced her to cancel a 12-city European and African tour that would have earned her $4,000,000. Collaborations with Grammy-winning producers were paused, and she says her creative drive stalled. “My creativity’s gone,” she reportedly told her therapist, explaining that she now relies on Instacart and hires a $150/hour security escort for even the most basic errands.
Iman-Thiam’s lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, accuses Publix of maintaining a workplace that was “as predictable as a Tuesday BOGO sale” in terms of risk. Her attorneys shared that this wasn’t just about one “rogue” employee, but a “broken system weaponized against women.” The attorneys highlighted that the company had no formal sexual harassment policies for frontline workers, despite at least 19 similar incidents across the state since 2020.
As a devout Muslim woman, Iman-Thiam shared that she faced spiritual consequences due to the nature of the unwanted physical contact. Her faith strictly prohibits sexual or physical touch from anyone other than her husband, and the violation meant she was considered spiritually unclean. Because of the incident, Iman-Thiam said that she undertook a year-long process of purification and healing under the guidance of an Imam in Senegal, her husband’s native country.
The rituals included praying six times a day, daily cleansing ceremonies, and a spiritual rebalancing that adhered to traditional Islamic practices. This period, while religiously essential to her recovery, made it impossible for her to tour, create music, or engage with her audience in any public way. Iman-Thiam is suing for punitive damages not only for the emotional and physical trauma, but for the financial blow to her career, harm to her reputation, and the personal cost of undergoing religious rites that were, as she put it, “never meant to be done for this reason.”
Publix has reportedly filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Ross acted independently. However, Iman-Thiam’s team has responded with damning evidence that Publix’s corporate practices failed to protect its customers from foreseeable harm.
Just days after Ross’ conviction, the company reportedly allocated $4,200,000 million in its quarterly earnings for “customer incident resolutions” — something Iman-Thiam’s attorneys suggest raises eyebrows.
Akon has not spoken publicly about his wife’s sexual assault case.
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