Kanye West’s fall from grace has been difficult to watch. Once a legend who relished in his gilded glory, he has now become one of the most controversial figures in the music industry. Although it was almost a part of his brand and starting conflicts was not new to him, his anti-Semitic statements are something the public simply could not look past.
It would seem that over time, his situation has been becoming graver and graver as he keeps finding himself in tricky circumstances. While the release of his recent album, Vultures, acted as a saving grace for his career, recent news suggests that his problems are only getting worse.
Anti-Black Racism Lawsuit Filed Against Kanye West
Recently, it was reported by Variety that the controversial rapper, Kanye West, has a lawsuit filed against him by a former employee. Trevor Phillips was hired by the musician to work for Yeezy, as well as the Donda Academy, a private school founded by him. During his employment there, he allegedly witnessed Ye engaging in several questionable activities.
From going on anti-Semitic rants during staff meetings to allegedly being inappropriate with employees, it would seem that Phillips had a front-row seat to West’s antics. However, the former employee’s lawsuit focuses on the latter of these categories, with him accusing the rapper of being racist towards his Black employees.
“During his tenure, Phillips never witnessed West yell and berate a white person, but on countless occasions he saw and/or personally experienced Kanye frenziedly yell at Black people,” the lawsuit states.
Phillips claimed in the lawsuit that during his time as an employee for West, he was often subjected to a lot of verbal abuse. He was not alone in this, as several employees who were also people of color allegedly got the harsh end of the stick from the rapper.
The Sunday Service that Changed Everything
Trevor Phillips then went on to reveal the reason why got fired. In the lawsuit, he claimed that he worked as an overseer for a project of growing crops to create a self-sustaining community. In May 2023, Phillips, alongside several other employees, was attending the Sunday service at Donda Academy, when something unexpected happened.
Apparently, Kanye West was not happy with the way that the school’s garden was looking and believed Phillips to be responsible for it. Although the latter explained profusely that it was not his responsibility, the rapper was extremely upset. He yelled at his employee in front of all of his co-workers, humiliating him publically.
After the burst, the former employee alleged that West fired him and asked him to get out. Oddly enough, after the employee was reduced to tears, he took these words back and punched his hand up into the air like the video game character, Mario from Mario Bros.. He then told his employee that he would give him another chance.
“His dream of working for someone he once admired was like his spirit — crushed,” the suit states. “While Kanye considered himself a god or a king, in reality he was an ill-tempered tyrant and despot, who sought to mentally obliterate and control those around him.”
As if this experience wasn’t turbulent enough for him, Phillips claimed that a couple of days later, when he was showing West around the gardens, something similar happened; only it was much more permanent. Although Ye said that he was satisfied with the work that his employee had done, when the former employee went home, he received a text from the rapper, that said that he was still fired as his work did not match the level that he was looking for.
Trevor Philips also claimed race discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination against the rapper.
