Kanye West sued for $1m by ex-employee who claims he was forced to work in dangerous conditions and sleep on the floor for months
Kanye West is being sued by a former employee who claims he was forced to work in dangerous conditions and sleep on the floor of a property the rapper was renovating.
Tony Saxon claims he is owed $1m (£800,000) in unpaid wages and loss of earnings after working as a project manager, full-time security, and live-in caretaker at the house in Malibu.
According to the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior court, West, who has legally changed his name to “Ye“, illegally fired Saxon after he refused to comply with the rapper’s “dangerous” demands.
The lawsuit alleges that Saxon was hired by Ye in September 2021 as a project manager who would also serve as full-time security at the multimillion-dollar beachfront property.
Alongside these roles, his duties would include overseeing construction-related tasks, including cleaning, demolition, hiring contractors and coordinating workers.
Ye had reportedly bought the home for more than $55m (£44m) and then proceeded to have it stripped out to begin an extensive remodel.
Tony Saxon in a security shirt at the Malibu property Pic: Tony Saxon
As a result of the property being gutted, according to the lawsuit, Saxon spent the entirety of his employment “sleeping in makeshift conditions, finding empty spaces on the ground and using his coat as a makeshift bedding”.
These conditions allegedly persisted despite “constant complaints” from Saxon about his sleeping conditions and other hazards including workers “unsafely demolishing various parts of the house with no safety equipment”.
Saxon claims he was promised payment of $20,000 (£16,000) per week, but after around a month later he had only received one $20,000 payment for his services along with $100,000 (£80,000) for construction costs, according to the complaint.
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On 22 October 2021, according to the lawsuit, Saxon complained that he was “exhausted” from the long hours and needed time to rest but was ignored by Ye. Shortly after, he claims, he badly injured his back while working but his requests for time off were again ignored.
On 5 November 2021 after Ye had once again allegedly ignored Saxon’s requests for time off, the rapper is said to have demanded all the remaining electrical equipment and windows be removed from the property.
The bed Saxon claims he was forced to use Pic: Tony Saxon
Saxon claims he refused on safety grounds at which point, the lawsuit alleges, Ye threatened him before telling him to “get the hell out” and eventually fired him after he again brought up his unpaid wages.
Saxon’s lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said: “Ye has shown a reckless disregard toward his employees and has flouted the law in unbelievably dangerous ways throughout this entire project at the Malibu house.
“No employee should have to suffer through the sort of working conditions Mr. Saxon was forced to endure yet Ye showed no concern and merely wanted the work done, despite the hazardous and unsafe, not to mention illegal, actions he was trying to force the plaintiff to undertake.”
This latest lawsuit comes after several other recently filed complaints against Ye and his Donda Academy Christian school in Southern California, which allege violations of labour laws and educational guidelines, retaliatory practices, unsafe conditions for students and mismanagement.
The rapper is also being sued by a photographer who accused him of grabbing her phone and throwing it into the street.
Sky News have approached Ye’s representatives for comment.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
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“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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