Kanye West threatened to “cage” Donda Academy students, new lawsuit claims

nme.com:

Kanye West has been sued by a former Yeezy and Donda Academy student, who claims that the rapper threatened to “cage” students.The lawsuit was filed by Trevor Phillips – a former employee of West – on Tuesday (April 2) in Los Angeles.

In the case, he accuses the rapper now known as Ye of numerous explosive allegations including verbal abuse, threatening physical violence and comparing himself to Hitler.As highlighted by various outlets including NBC News, Rolling Stone and Consequence, Phillips alleges that West told students that he wanted to shave their heads and lock them in cages.

He also claims that the rapper frequently praised Hitler, and even compared himself to the Nazi leader on one occasion.Other accusations laid out in the filing are that Ye once simulated masturbation during a one-on-one hotel room meeting, threatened to punch Phillips during a “temper tantrum”, and verbally abused his staff.

The latter, Phillips elaborated, claimed that West treated his Black staff “considerably worse than white employees”, and told various members of staff that they could be fired for being “fat”.Elsewhere in the suit, he also stated that Ye temporarily delayed paying workers after his Yeezy bank accounts were frozen.Representatives for Ye and attorneys for Donda Academy have not yet publicly responded to requests for comment.Phillips was hired in November 2022 to work on the “vertically integrated crew” for Yeezy, but was later transferred to Donda Academy following Adidas cutting ties with the rapper over his string of anti-Semitic behaviour.