Kanye West is no stranger to legal trouble. From his music and his marriage to Donda Academy, the famed rapper cannot escape the doghouse with the lawsuits. It is very easy for one used to keeping up with his drama to get lost somewhere along the way.
The rapper initially started the year relatively under the radar, given his controversial and antisemitic remarks that made his Yeezy distributor, Adidas, drop the pricey shoe brand and its owner last November. Nowadays, a low-key and previously unofficial marriage to former Yeezy architect Bianca Censori has been met with much confusion, especially regarding their outfit choices—so much so that the infamous couple has gotten into international trouble in Italy.
Although Kanye has kept his public rants to a minimum, the court system has loudly acknowledged his actions. As he deals with another lawsuit, this time from the L.A. Mission, it is time to debrief all that has been going on with the man known as Ye.
BLACK ENTERPRISE has been keeping track of what’s been up with the controversial rapper and his many ongoing legal battles. Look no further for a rundown of West’s lawsuits and legal strife since 2023 started.
A Debacle Over a Donda 2 Sample
The rapper settled a lawsuit in May regarding the sampling of a song by Marshall Jefferson that was used without his consent on the Donda 2 album, which was exclusively released on West’s stem player. According to Reuters, Jefferson is a “pioneer” of house music, a sub-genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago. The case was delayed after West’s previous representation, Greenberg Traurig, dropped West as a client following his infamous antisemitic rant.
A Wrongful Termination Suit At (Now Defunct) Yeezy Christian Academy
An assistant principal at the now-shut down Yeezy Christian Academy filed a lawsuit against West bacJuly on the grounds of wrongful termination, as reported by Vanity Fair. Isaiah Meadows held the position while the school was known as such before transforming into Donda Academy in 2022. Within his suit, he detailed how the institution was in complete disarray, including issues with its septic tank and exposed wiring. After reporting these concerns to the administration, Meadows was subsequently fired and then re-hired to a lower role. This legal battle is a string of lawsuits against the school, as former Donda Academy teachers have also come forward with allegations of wrongful termination and racial discrimination, as detailed by the publication. The school’s current enrollment and operation status are currently unknown.
The Malibu House From Hell
Billboard reported in September that West was being sued by a former employee working on his Malibu home for backpay and unsafe working conditions. According to the lawsuit filed on Sept. 13, Tony Saxon alleged that West forced him to spend days at the property to continue working on its construction despite injuring his back while on the job. He also stated that while he was promised a $20K a week pay range, he only received one week’s allotment of work for the entire project. Saxon was also given back $120K in reimbursements toward the construction, which West deemed was supposed to be an “open-concept, industrial-brutalist, art-style dwelling that’s also a bomb shelter-bunker.”
Indecent Exposure By Water Taxi
In a “baecation” gone awry, West and his wife, Bianca Censori, made headlines all September for their scantily-clad rendezvous in Venice. After pictures leaked of the couple half naked while riding a boat, in a position that heavily suggested a sexual act was taking place, the duo was formally banned from the boat rental company. According to TMZ, their excursions throughout the European country had residents call for them to be reprimanded from the country’s governance for their indecent exposure.
Retribution From A Skid Row Rant
When Ye reposted his re-occurring instance of grabbing the microphone during a 2021 Thanksgiving charity event, the post of his infamous speech has him now facing legal repercussions. A volunteer at the L.A. mission who captured the video is suing West for using the video without his permission. According to Rolling Stone, the lawsuit was formally filed on Oct. 24. The complaint details that the volunteer, Elijah Graham, planned to sell the video for a profit, with those dreams now dashed due to West’s distribution. The video showed West speaking vulnerably about his divorce from Kim Kardashian. Graham is suing the former billionaire to get him to pay up for stealing the now-viral video.
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