Another former employee of Kanye West has filed a lawsuit making various allegations relating to his time working for the Yeezy fashion line, Donda Academy and other business ventures run by the rapper. Among other things, West - or Ye - is accused of racial discrimination, making antisemitic statements in school meetings, and violent behaviour in the workplace.
According to Rolling Stone, Trevor Phillips says that when he tried to push back against Ye's “bigotry", the rapper “responded mercilessly, with incessant harassment, humiliation and attempts to both mentally control and destroy" his employee. “Kanye’s ill-will towards the plaintiff", Phillips' lawsuit claims, "ultimately culminated in a vulgar lashing in front of schoolchildren and their parents. Kanye even threatened Phillips with physical violence".
Phillips was hired to work for Ye's Yeezy fashion company in November 2022, just as the rapper's business partnership with Adidas was cancelled because of the increasingly controversial statements he was making. In part because of the impact of the collapse of the Adidas partnership, Phillips' role was evolved, resulting in him working for other businesses and projects headed up by Ye, in particular the Donda Academy school in California.
In his lawsuit, Phillips - who is black - says that Ye “treated the black staff considerably worse than white employees”. Ye also repeated the antisemitic statements he was making in public in the workplace, including in front of students at the Academy.
There were other occasions when he spoke inappropriately to students, including allegedly telling two children that he wanted them to “shave their heads" and that "he intended to put a jail at the school – and that they could be locked in cages".
Away from the school, during one bizarre meeting at a hotel in Malibu, Ye allegedly spoke about Hitler’s greatness, said that the Holocaust was fake, and stated that “gay people are not true Christians". He also allegedly talked about his sex life to Phillips while miming masturbation.
Working for Ye became ever more stressful as Phillips' nine month stint with the rapper progressed. During one incident in May 2023, Ye allegedly “physically threatened” Phillips, repeatedly saying he was going to “punch him in the face”, before having a sudden change of mood and declaring “I’m gonna give you one more chance!" However, in August, Ye fired Phillips stating he was “not on the level".
Phillips’ lawsuit is the latest filed against Ye by a former employee. Last year Isaiah Meadows, who had been an assistant principal at the Donda Academy, sued for breach of contract and accused Ye of violating California’s employment regulations. Among other things, Meadows outlined allegations of safety concerns at the school, adding that at one point there was no glass in the windows, no electricity and no hot water.
