Kanye West Has Been Sued Yet Again – Rolling Stone

September is off to a rough start for Kanye West.

Days after a Venetian water taxi banned the rapper from its boats following NSFW footage of West and his wife Bianca Censori, West has been hit with a lawsuit from a former employee, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone. 

West — who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021 — is facing accusations of withholding payment, disability discrimination, retaliation and various labor code violations from Tony Saxon, who filed suit against West on Wednesday in Los Angeles. 

Saxon, who is a musician and has a background in construction consultation, claims that despite working closely with West for months and trying to complete his ever-changing design plans, West abruptly fired him in November 2021 after he refused to agree to West’s dangerous construction request. 

“He goes, ‘If you don’t do what I asked you to do, you’re a Clinton. You’re a Kardashian. You’re an enemy and I’m not going to be a friend anymore. I’m not going to provide you with an opportunity anymore. You’re only going to see me on TV,’” Saxon tells Rolling Stone. “I said to him, ‘I don’t watch TV’ and he said, ‘Get the fuck out.’ And that was it.” (Rolling Stone has reached out to West’s rep for comment.) 

West hired Saxon in September 2021 as a project manager to oversee construction work on his newly purchased $57 million Malibu pad, according to the lawsuit. It was Censori — head architect for West’s Yeezy brand — who originally contacted Saxon to determine how to paint the house’s interior with concrete, Saxon says. But upon Saxon’s arrival, things were in such disarray, he says, that West hired him to oversee the project, effectively replacing Censori. “I became a prisoner of him and the house,” Saxon says. 

As part of his role, Saxon says he was expected to oversee all construction and demolition work, hire contractors and coordinate workers at the house, plus provide around-the-clock security for $20,000 per week, according to court documents. 

While the compensation seems high, Saxon claims that due to West constantly changing his mind, he foresaw having to dip into those funds to cover construction expenses because West would quickly blow through the construction budget. (Saxon says he only received two payments from West, one for $20,000 and $100,000 for the budget.)

West’s plans for the house would change “totally on a whim,” Saxon tells Rolling Stone. The rapper allegedly wanted the entire house to be open concept, have a bomb shelter in the basement and establish a “privatized Wi-Fi connection on an alternate source of energy” while living off the grid. 

“It’s the same thing with him and every other ridiculous celebrity that goes over the top,” Saxon says. “They have stupid ideas and deep down, they know it’s ridiculous and dumb. They just think they have enough money where they could say, ‘Just do it.’ [West] is the worst with it because everybody tells him he’s a genius. Nobody tells him no. Nobody tells him, ‘Man, that’s never gonna work.’” 

But Saxon says he ended up becoming a close confidante to West, speaking to him daily and trying his best to pull off West’s every request. “You end up out of nowhere becoming his BFF, living on the floor of his house trying to execute his vision,” Saxon says. “You want to get it done because he’s telling you he wants to make you CEO of [Yeezy.] You begin to care about the guy.”

West was also going through personal issues that fall. Kim Kardashian filed for divorce earlier that year and the couple were said to be amicable and focused on co-parenting. Saxon claims Kardashian once stopped by the house with their children, but “freaked out” when one of the workers mistakenly called her “Bianca.” “[West] cried on my shoulder in the garage saying, ‘Why would he say that, man? Why would he say that,’” Saxon says. (Rolling Stone has reached out to Kardashian’s rep for comment.)

Working for West was “crazy, ridiculous,” Saxon says. During his employment, Saxon allegedly worked 16-hour days, had to sleep in his coat and “makeshift conditions” throughout the renovation. Although Saxon claims he complained to West about the conditions — such as not having access to a proper bed and sleeping next to open insulation — West never took any action. Plus, West was “unresponsive and difficult to communicate with” the lawsuit claims, with his preferred communication being through short text messages, bullet points or PDFs.  

In October, Saxon “emphasized his stress and anxiety” to West over the project and his feelings of being generally “overburdened with the amount of work that needs to be completed in tight deadlines,” according to the lawsuit. Yet West allegedly ignored his concerns.   

The breaking point came in November when Saxon says he “completely destroyed” his neck and badly injured his back while working and needed to take some time off to properly rest. But West was allegedly relentless, calling Saxon upwards of nine times about the house. 

Days later, according to the lawsuit, West informed Saxon he wanted to remove all the home’s windows and electric wiring, and place large generators inside the home. Saxon claims he attempted to explain to West that his request was dangerous and a fire hazard, to which West raised his voice and told Saxon he would be “considered an enemy” if he didn’t start tearing out the electrical. Saxon refused and West fired him on the spot, the lawsuit claims. 

Now Saxon is seeking unpaid wages and plus damages on grounds of disability discrimination, retaliation and various labor code violations, including withholding of payment. 

Saxon’s complaint is one of the several lawsuits stacking up against West. He’s currently facing suits from former teachers of his private Christian school Donda Academy, who claim they were wrongfully terminated for raising concerns about the school and its educational standards to West and other school administrators. Last year, Rolling Stone learned the school required families to sign NDAs, a top administrator  walked away before the school year over “philosophical differences” and her replacement was still obtaining her master’s degree in education. And in May, he settled a copyright lawsuit over using an unauthorized sample of Chicago musician Marshall Jefferson’s song “Move Your Body” on Donda 2’s “Flowers.”