American rapper Kanye West made antisemitic and Holocaust-denying comments during bizarre tirades in front of employees and students at his school, according to a Tuesday lawsuit filed with the Superior Court of California against him by a former employee seeking compensation for alleged abuse, discrimination, breach of contract, and wrongful termination.
Trevor Phillips, who was hired by West to grow cotton and other crops in the Yeezy clothing line and a self-sufficient community, said that he had seen the rapper, also known as Ye, engage in antisemitic rants to his staff after his October 2022 social media tweets about Jews and the ensuing public turmoil.
“The Jews are out to get me,” said West. “The Jews are stealing all my money.”
According to the filing, West made these comments in front of students at his Donda Christian private school, and the staff didn’t respond, fearing for their jobs.
Phillips recounted how West was volatile, firing people from his organizations on a whim. A coach at the school was fired for sharing a “racist video” that purported to show people in Israel assaulting black people, Phillips said.
In a private meeting at the Nobu Hotel, West allegedly confided in Phillips that he believed that Jews were greedy and that he hated Jewish people.
“Hitler was great,” West allegedly said. “Hitler was an innovator! He invented so many things. He’s the reason we have cars.”
Phillips said that he challenged West’s characterization of Hitler by reminding him of the Holocaust, to which the celebrity said, “That was fake.”
“Hitler was a good person,” West continued, according to the suit. “Jewish people are bad, and they run America. And Chinese people run them.”
West blamed Jews for the collapse of his partnership with Adidas after he made a series of antisemitic comments.
“The Zionist Jews are out to get me. They are a part of human sex trafficking,” West allegedly said. “The Jews are working with Adidas to freeze up my money to try and make me broke! The Jews can’t stop me. Adidas can’t stop me. I will be the richest person in the world.”
During the same meeting, West warned that he was going first after “the Jews, then the gays.”
“Gay people are not true Christians,” West reportedly explained to Phillips. “And Gay people are controlled by Bill Gates so that they don’t have children for population control.”
In a demonstration of West’s alleged abusive behavior, Phillips shared a text message from Ye in which he exploded at his then-employee for failing to send a complete list of all the seed packets for purchase.
“I am on some complete Hitler-level stuff minus the gas chambers,” West allegedly wrote. “In Jesus name.”
Those were not the only inappropriate comments West made in front of the schoolchildren, according to Phillips. The rapper also discussed how he only liked to date Caucasian women and told the children he wanted to shave their heads, install a jail at the school, and lock them in cages. West told staff members in the same meeting that no staff should be fat; otherwise, he would fire them.
Erratic behavior by the rapper are not his first
During the hotel meeting between Phillips and West, the fashion mogul demanded that hotel staff “put on Batman. Come put on Batman now.”
“A few moments later, the Nobu Hotel staff arrived and put on The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz,” according to the suit. “Kanye lowered the volume to zero, and he and Phillips watched the movie in total silence.”
When Phillips mentioned that Kravitz was attractive, West reportedly responded that his employee looked like her. He then clarified that he was handsome, just like her father.
Staring at the ceiling, West allegedly began to motion as if he were masturbating.
“I used to have orgies every day – at least two to three girls. And now, man, I can’t even lay down without jacking off,” West allegedly said. “I got to keep my hand away from my phone to keep me away from looking at pornos.”
Phillips alleged that “even when class was in session, Kanye would scream and berate black employees while never raising his tone at the white staff. Often, Kanye targeted Phillips, a black man, not just with harassment but also with complete and utter disdain.”
When Phillips tried to clean up the school garden for the Sunday service in which West and a choir played gospel music, West accused him of interfering with the grounds and mocked a growth on his neck and his daughter, who went to the school. West allegedly engaged in a temper tantrum, attempting to overturn some pots, but was “too weak and out of shape” and instead tore apart the plants. West paced around, Phillips said, threatening to punch him, but he eventually calmed down.
“Imitating the celebratory dance of Mario from the famous video game Super Mario Brothers, Kanye jumped up by punching one fist in the air while he said, ‘I’m gonna give you one more chance. Another life!’” West said, according to the lawsuit.
According to the suit, West shut down the school in August to rebrand the institution. Phillips said that he was not offered severance or termination papers and alleged that West had hired him to work at Yeezy but, in effect, all the entities and organizations owned by the rapper were interchangeable with the same officers and mixed funding and paperwork. Yeezy allegedly also used the company’s and organizations’ funds for luxuries like a trip to Paris.
The different entities “were used as mere shells, instrumentalities, or conduits for a single venture,” said Phillips.
West repeatedly promised Phillips and others that they would be paid 100 dollars an hour for their round-the-clock work, but he reportedly paid them far less, Phillips said, adding that West had wrongfully terminated him, subjected him to emotional abuse, unlawfully discriminated against him, and broke an oral contract. He is asking for $35,000 in remuneration from West.