State Champ Radio donda academy
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Ye FKA Kanye West has yet another lawsuit on his hands. A former Donda Academy employee is suing him over his antisemitic behavior and more.
As reported by TMZ, the Chicago, Illinois, native will have to clear his already muddied name in a court of law. A former Donda Academy official is claiming that the “Father Stretch My Hands” performer was doing the absolute most at his children’s school back in 2022. Trevor Phillips says he was hired late that year to help source raw materials for the YZY apparel brand. His responsibilities were soon expanded to oversee the unaccredited private institution during the same time Ye went full antisemite.
On Tuesday, April 2, Phillips filed a lawsuit alleging that not only would Ye be openly bigoted in front of students but also once told them he was going to be build a jail in the school where kids who misbehaved would be locked in cages. “By filing this lawsuit, we hope our injured clients’ rights are vindicated, and that the famous artist Mr. West understands that his messages — which we alleged preach discrimination, antisemitism and Hitler-love — have no place in the world,” Phillips’ attorney, Carney R. Shegerian, explained in a formal statement to People.
This is not the first time Ye has been sued by employees of Donda Academy. According to The Los Angeles Times, in April 2023, two former staffers filed a lawsuit claiming they were unjustly terminated from their positions without warning. Additionally, they revealed the school had very unusual policies including that the kids could not wear clothing from Nike and adidas, outside food was not allowed and there were no janitorial services.
Representatives from Ye’s camp have yet to respond to the matter.
Kanye West is facing another lawsuit filed by a former employee at his Donda Academy, this time accusing him of discriminating against Black staffers and seeking to lock students in cages.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (April 2) in Los Angeles court, Trevor Phillips says the embattled rapper (who now goes by Ye) treated the Black staff at the school “considerably worse than white employees” — and then subjected him to “incessant harassment” and “humiliation” when he spoke up about it.
Like the several other lawsuits filed by former Donda Academy employees, the new complaint includes a number of bizarre allegations about West and his conduct at the school. It claims he told students to “shave their heads” and that he “intended to put a jail at the school” where students could be “locked in cages.”
Trending on Billboard
In another odd alleged episode, Phillips claims West summoned him to a room at the Nobu Hotel, where the rapper put on The Batman and watched it in silence.
“After a long and awkward silence, Kanye finally spoke again,” Phillips claims in the suit. “Turning his attention back to Phillips, he began an unprovoked and bigoted rant attacking Jewish people.” Later that same evening, Phillips claims West lay on the bed and simulated masturbating while talking about having orgies.
Phillips claims he was finally fired last year.
The case is the latest lawsuit filed by former staffers of Donda Academy and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. One of them, filed in July, claimed that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass” and that students were not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.” Another case, filed in April 2023, alleged that the only food available to students was sushi.
As with those earlier cases, the strange allegations contained in Tuesday’s lawsuit supported more straightforward legal claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
A spokesperson for West did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: MEGA / Getty
A new lawsuit claims that Ye aka Kanye West’s Donda Academy had seriously unsafe conditions including a “moldy smell.”
According to reports, a lawsuit was filed on Thursday (July 6th) in a Los Angeles courtroom by a former teacher with the school. Isaiah Meadows’ suit is the third in the last three months. In the case, the former faith and physical education teacher (who also worked at the Yeezy Christian Academy which was a predecessor) claims that he was fired from his position after expressing his concerns about grave health and safety issues at the academy. He also claims he is owed back pay as well as compensation for rent at a place near the school.
The details begin with Meadows alleging that Donda Academy was built without windows in the window frames. This left the faculty and students vulnerable to the weather outside. “In the middle of the main classroom, a skylight was left without glass inevitably allowing rain to fall directly inside, where water would soak into the floor, which would lead to a moldy smell for the next few days,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote in the suit’s documents. “The skylight was intentionally without glass because WEST expressed that he did not like glass.”
Another issue that was presented in the suit concerned the septic tank that would “overflow every other day, causing a terrible smell.” There were also “serious wiring issues” at the school, leading to an incident of an electrical fire “near the student eating area where wire was laid atop the ground, exposed.” These add on to claims brought by former teachers Cecilia Hailey, Chekarey Byers, and Timanii Meeks in the May lawsuit which include students only being allowed to wear black clothing and not going to the second floor because the rapper was “reportedly afraid of stairs.”
“The unlawful and retaliatory behavior by Mr. West and the school directors have now been documented multiple times by other former employees who never even worked together but all experienced the same horrendous treatment and witnessed the same serious health, safety, and education code violations, while all were subjected to the same fate,” attorney Ron Zambrano wrote in a statement that accompanied the lawsuit.
HipHopWired Radio
Our staff has picked their favorite stations, take a listen…
Kanye West is facing another lawsuit about unsafe conditions at his Donda Academy, including that the bizarre allegation that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In a lawsuit filed Thursday (July 6) in Los Angeles, former Donda Academy gym teacher Isaiah Meadows says he was unfairly fired after he raised concerns about inconsistent pay and serious health and safety issues — allegedly including overflowing sceptic tanks and dangerous electrical fires.
The new case came just three months after a group of other former Donda employees filed a similar case against West (who legally changed his name to Ye) and his private school, alleging they had been terminated after complaining about shoddy pay and bad conditions.
Like the previous case, the new lawsuit paints a strange picture of life inside West’s school and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. In one accusation, Meadows says students were left “exposed to the elements” because the rapper refused to allow glass to be placed in the building’s window frames.
“In the middle of the main classroom, a skylight was left without glass inevitably allowing rain to fall directly inside, where water would soak into the floor, which would lead to a moldy smell for the next few days,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote. “The skylight was intentionally without glass because WEST expressed that he did not like glass.”
He also claims that the school had “serious wiring issues,” leading to an incident in which an electrical fire was sparked “near the student eating area where wire was laid atop the ground, exposed.” Plumbing was allegedly also a problem, including a sceptic tank that would “overflow every other day, causing a terrible smell.”
In a statement announcing the new case, attorney Ron Zambrano called the conditions at Donda Academy “absolutely egregious” and said he and his client “plan to hold them accountable.”
“The unlawful and retaliatory behavior by Mr. West and the school directors have now been documented multiple times by other former employees who never even worked together but all experienced the same horrendous treatment and witnessed the same serious health, safety and education code violations, while all were subjected to the same fate,” Zambrano said.
In technical terms, the lawsuit accuses West, Donda Academy and others of breach of contract and of violation of several California labor laws, including wage rules, wrongful termination, and improper classification.
Donda Academy did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for West individually could not immediately be located for comment.
Much like the new claims about glassless windows, the earlier case against Donda included its own allegations about conditions at the school. The former teachers claimed that students were allowed to only eat sushi; that all students were required to wear black; and, oddest of all, that students were also not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.”
That case, filed by the same attorneys on behalf of former teachers Cecilia Hailey, Chekarey Byers and Timanii Meeks, is still pending.
Running a school is no walk in the park — a lesson Kanye West is learning the hard way.
Former Donda Academy teachers Cecilia Hailey and her daughter, Chekarey Byers, are suing West (now known as Ye) and his Simi Valley private school for wrongful termination, discrimination and unlawful withholding of wages, among other allegations, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday (April 5).
According to a press release put out by the plaintiffs’ law firm, West Coast Employment Lawyers, the Christian school allegedly “violated education, health and safety codes, terminated educators based on race and retaliation, and failed to fully pay teachers.” Donda Academy directors Brianne Campbell, Allison Tidwell and Chris Julian are also named as defendants.
The complaint, obtained by Billboard and filed by attorneys Ronald L. Zambrano and Melineh Jingozian, claims the pre-K through 12th-grade school boasted a number of unusual rules and restrictions, allegedly demanded by West. They include not allowing common items such as crossword puzzles, coloring sheets, eating utensils, colorful clothing, dinnerware, jewelry, chairs and Nike or Adidas branded clothing. Students were also allegedly not allowed on the second floor of the school because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs” and also not allowed outside, instead forced to spend their lunch/recess time indoors.
The complaint further alleges that the only meal available to students was sushi and that they were not allowed to bring food from home. Byers and Hailey additionally accuse the school of turning a blind eye to “severe bullying,” including physical violence.
In the complaint, Hailey and Byers are identified as the only female African-American teachers at the school — something they say led to stereotyping and coded language from Donda Academy administrators. “I’m just tired of the rhetoric being that Black women who are competent are seen as aggressive,” Hailey said in a statement.
The complaint goes on to state that when Hailey expressed interest in reaching out to West, she was told not to. Both teachers also claim that their paychecks were “untimely or inaccurate,” with some never arriving and others reportedly short by up to $2,700.
“No action was taken to remedy plaintiffs’ complaints regarding sanitation, health, safety or education standard pursuant to local and state law, which plaintiffs made throughout the entirety of their employment,” the complaint reads. Hailey and Byers were ultimately terminated from the school in March, allegedly without explanation.
Hailey and Byers are asking for damages including unpaid wages, loss of earnings, deferred compensation and other employment benefits; general damages, including for “emotional distress”; other special damages, including “reasonable medical expenses”; punitive damages; prejudgment interest on lost wages and benefits; and costs of bringing the suit.
“We’re standing up because it’s the right thing to do,” Hailey continued in her statement. “This is not about trying to defame a celebrity. This is about the right thing to do for these children.”
“While his vision for the school sounds great on paper, it’s just pure chaos and mutiny,” Byers added.
Representatives for West and Donda Academy did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment.
Donda Academy — named after West’s late mother, Donda West — was founded last year. In October, there were reports of the school shutting down, but it is now accepting applications for the 2023-24 school year.
-
Pages
