A new lawsuit filed in California on Tuesday alleges that American rapper, Kanye West has frequently yelled at Black employees while expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler as an “innovator”.
A former employee of West, who goes by the name Trevor Phillips, sued his former boss, West for discrimination and hostile work environment. The documents were filed before the Superior Court of Los Angeles, California.
Philip, claim that West had told schoolchildren he was being persecuted by Jewish people.
Trevor Phillips, who like West is Black and worked for two of West’s ventures for nearly a year, claims in a Los Angeles lawsuit that he suffered severe discrimination, harassment and retaliation from West, who is also known as Ye.
According to Phillip, West never “berate a white person, but on countless occasions he saw and/or personally experienced Kanye frenziedly yell at Black people.”
Phillips disclosed that he was hired in November 2022 by Yeezy, the rapper’s clothing brand, and immediately began working at the Donda Academy, a school West founded outside Los Angeles.
“Phillips, on several occasions, witnessed Kanye preach to his staff obscenities such as ‘the Jews are out to get me’ and ‘the Jews are stealing all my money’,” the suit says.
The suit also disclosed that clothing giants GAP and ADIDAS parted ways with West after previous antisemitic remarks.
The suit also claims that West praised Hitler, calling the Nazi leader “great” at a dinner at an upmarket restaurant in Los Angeles.
“Hitler was an innovator. He invented so many things. He’s the reason we have cars,” the suit alleges West to have said.
Meanwhile, a number of people are credited with the development of the car, including Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, but the Austrian-born dictator was not one of them.
In the read suit, the Philip also claimed that West had once told two children at the Donda Academy to shave their heads and threatened to lock them in cages.
“Kanye also told the employees… that no staff could be fat -– otherwise he would fire them.”
Phillips, Lawyer, Carney R. Shegerian, asserted that the lawsuit aimed to right the wrongs his client has endured, seeking $35,000 in compensation.
Shegerian said, “We hope… that the famous artist Mr West will understand that his messages, which we allege preach discrimination, anti-Semitism and love for Hitler, have no place in the world.”
