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Kanye West accused of screwing over e-commerce start-up and then ripping off its tech
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 26 August 2020
Kanye West has been sued by a technology company called MyChannel which claims that the rapper backed out of a business partnership after it had already spent millions on a proposed joint venture, and then ripped off its tech for the online spin-off of his God-worshipping Sunday Service events.
MyChannel says it went into business with West in 2018 after he expressed an interest in using its integrated video and e-commerce platform to power the online operations of his Yeezy fashion brand. At West’s urging, the company alleges, its founders and team of developers invested pretty much all of their time and resources into the Yeezy project for six months, having been promised a $10 million investment and a lucrative partnership powering Yeezy’s online sales.
However, after the company had overhauled its operations and even moved its headquarters to accommodate West, he then cut off all communication with the tech firm and its top team. They then subsequently watched the launch of the Sunday Service online set-up which, they allege, included integrated video and merch sales that directly utilised know-how and expertise picked up via the MyChannel alliance.
The MyChannel company was launched by a team of black entrepreneurs, something specifically noted by one of the lawyers representing the tech outfit. Attorney Michael S Popok tells Law360: “Publicly, Kanye claims that he supports black entrepreneurs and empowerment, but in private, the opposite is true”.
“He had a perfect opportunity to put his rhetoric into action by investing in and lifting up a successful young black tech company”, the attorney adds. “Instead he had the MyChannel founders and a dozen others work around the clock for six months, unpaid, and after they delivered the technology to power his Yeezy brand’s e-commerce business, he stole it”.
West is yet to respond.
