Kanye sued by ex-'fixer' who alleges threats, retaliation

Kanye West leans back as he smiles in a black hoodie while sitting in a crowd

By Nardine SaadStaff Writer

Oct. 10, 2024 1:49 PM PT

A former employee of rapper Kanye West and his Yeezy apparel brand is suing him for labor code violations and infliction of emotional distress, alleging that Ye threatened to kill him as “he spiraled into conspiracy theories and erratic, reckless and dangerous behavior,” the employee’s attorney said Thursday.

The anonymous employee identified himself as a Michigan resident who was hired by Ye as a deputy campaign director after the rapper’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential bid, according to the civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The employee, a military veteran diagnosed with PTSD, also served as “director of intelligence” for Yeezy, charged with conducting various investigations, including those involving attorneys and parties that filed suit against Yeezy, Ye and related entities, the complaint said.

John Doe, as the employee is listed in the filing obtained by The Times, said he was hired by Ye in December 2022 and allegedly was tasked with looking into various conspiracy theories and with “brainstorming ideas to keep Ye in the news.” That included a discussion of “getting involved with both national and international headlines, handling investigations and NDAs,” which eventually transitioned into full-time work for the rapper and his company, the complaint said.

Doe also claimed he was a “fixer” and was asked to investigate the family of Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian and “supposed various criminal links Ye believed they had with criminal enterprises, including alleged sex trafficking.” The Grammy-winning rapper also had Doe hire private investigators to follow his wife, Bianca Censori, without her knowledge when she visited family in Australia.

The employee alleged that when the “Heartless” rapper began to let go of much of Yeezy’s leadership team in or around May 2024, Ye also got titanium teeth and consumed nitrous oxide, which the employee “speculates led to some of the erratic behavior,” the complaint said.

Shortly after that, and upon learning of alleged child abuse at Ye’s embattled Donda Academy, Doe alleged that Ye called him “to yell, curse and threaten [him] with great bodily injury, including death, if [he] repeated what [he] learned” from a Donda employee. At one point, he told Doe, “You’re f— dead to me!” and played a recording of “scary voices that were threatening to harm” him. The employee claimed in the days and weeks that followed, he received threats from Ye’s associates who were known “enforcers,” exacerbating Doe’s PTSD.

“The stress and trauma caused by the threats, hostile work environment, and Plaintiff’s exposure to illegal and unethical activities severely impacted his mental and emotional well-being,” the complaint said. “Plaintiff experienced panic attacks, anxiety, and severe emotional distress, which caused him to seek medical treatment and was placed in a facility to address his declining mental health.”

Doe alleged that he was fired and retaliated against “through a campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment” for reporting child abuse claims and drug use and “his refusal to engage in unethical activities.”

The defendants also “intentionally and willfully” failed to provide him with complete and accurate wage statements and withheld all the wages he was owed in his final paycheck — violations of California’s labor code.

Doe is seeking a jury trial and in “excess of seven figures in punitive and compensatory damages, including unpaid wages,” his legal team said in a statement to The Times. He listed retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and numerous labor code violations among his causes of action.

Milo Yiannopoulos, who previously served as Yeezy’s chief of staff, weighed in with his support for the rapper and described Doe as “a traumatized person and a shameless fantasist.”

“[M]y impression is that his lawsuit is absurdly frivolous,” he said Friday in a statement to The Times. “It’s especially disgusting that someone employed to do sensitive and confidential work would appear to be disclosing details of that work — and I will say many of the details in his complaint are simply fantastical and false — in a lawsuit designed to cause embarrassment, and/or capitalize on perceived problems in Ye’s marriage.”

Other representatives for Ye did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.

Doe’s lawsuit is the latest in a legal pile-up for the “Famous” rapper.

Last year, Ye was sued for alleged workplace abuses by two former teachers at his Donda Academy, a nonaccredited private school in the Los Angeles area that shut down in 2022.

In April, Trevor Phillips, a former employee of Yeezy and Donda Academy, also sued the megastar, his Yeezy apparel brand and the school. Phillips claimed discrimination, a hostile work environment, whistleblower retaliation and unsafe working conditions, among other allegations.

In June, Ye was accused in a separate lawsuit of sexually harassing a personal assistant.

In July, he was sued by former employees of his Yeezy brand who accused him, Yeezy and Yiannopoulos of fostering a toxic workplace characterized by racial discrimination, forced labor and a failure to pay employees for their work.

“Ye has only himself to blame for his mounting legal woes,” Doe’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, said Thursday in a statement to The Times. “He just can’t continue hiring employees, treating them terribly, then refusing to pay them in violation of numerous employment laws, let alone threaten to kill them as he did in this case.”

Zambrano said that his client “is so fearful of Ye and his erratic, disturbing and unpredictable behavior” that he wishes to remain anonymous for his own safety.

“It’s not only illegal but unconscionable that an employer would threaten any employee with bodily harm or death,” Zambrano said.