A former security guard for Kanye West, Benjamin Deshon Provo, is suing the rapper for racial discrimination. In the lawsuit, Provo alleges that Ye subjected his Black employees to “less favourable treatment than their White counterparts”. Additionally, he claims that the artist frequently screamed at and berated Black employees and ultimately fired Provo for refusing to cut his dreadlocks. Provo is seeking damages for the alleged discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment, labour code violations and for attorney fees. He is also seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Ye from owning and operating any type of educational school for minor children under the age of 18 years in the state of California.
The former employee began working for the rapper in August 2021, after six months at the Donda Academy, when the school relocated and assigned additional job duties to employees as a result of a lack of staffing. According to Provo, Ye demonstrated a “stark difference” in the way he treated his Black employees compared to other members of staff and was “always abrupt, abrasive, and demeaning of Plaintiff and his Black counterparts”. Alongside this, Ye made anyone associated with Donda dispose of books related to Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and other prominent figures in the Black community, and paid Provo less than non-Black employees for no discernible reason.
Notably, this is not the first time Ye has been sued by a former Yeezy employee and Donda Academy student. Just earlier this month, a member of staff sued the rapper for allegedly threatening to “cage” his students. Trevor Phillips accused Ye of several allegations, including verbal abuse, threatening physical violence, and comparing himself to Hitler. This follows Ye’s past response where reps dismissed claims about the Donda Academy, stating that these descriptions of the school were inaccurate and that the allegations did a disservice to the school’s current staff and students and their parents.
In recent years, Ye has also been accused of punching a man who allegedly sexually assaulted his wife, stealing a sample from a song, and even being labelled an anti-Semite by Ozzy Osbourne for using Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ without permission. Ye’s last album, Vultures 1, was given a two-star review by NME, with critics criticising its degrading lyrics and messy mixes. Despite announcing the release of ‘Vultures 2’, Ye later delayed its release and hinted that he would not be releasing the two remaining LPs from the trilogy on streaming platforms
Read the full article on NME here: Read More