WARNING: This story incorporates antisemitic language.
First, he went on a days-long antisemitic social media rant. Then, he tried to sell swastika T-shirts on his website.
And that is simply what musician and dressmaker Kanye West has been as much as within the final week, by no means thoughts the final a number of years of controversial statements and behavior.
However now, West, who additionally goes by Ye, is being sued by a former worker who says he tormented her for being Jewish, and her lawyer says sufficient is sufficient.
“We have to cease excusing Ye’s behaviour. As a father, husband and employer, he have to be held accountable,” Carney Shegerian, of L.A.-based Shegerian & Associates, advised CBC Information in a written assertion.
“Ye waged a relentless and deliberate marketing campaign of antisemitism and misogyny in opposition to my consumer. His appalling therapy of girls and fixation on Nazism, evident in abusive texts the place he repeatedly calls himself Hitler, expose his motives,” Shegerian added.
The worker, listed solely as “Jane Doe” on account of further allegations of sexual harassment, filed a grievance in opposition to Ye and his firm Yeezy in California’s Superior Court docket on Tuesday. Within the courtroom paperwork obtained by CBC Information, she accuses Ye and Yeezy of discrimination, harassment and retaliation on account of her intercourse and Jewish faith.
In line with the grievance, Ye “carried out a calculated marketing campaign to threaten and psychologically torment Jewish individuals round him,” however particularly Jane Doe.
She alleges that on totally different events, he referred to himself as Hitler, stated “hail Hitler,” and instantly threatened her on account of her Jewish heritage.
In line with the grievance, Jane Doe was terminated shortly after she complained to her supervisor about Ye’s conduct.
“He’s a bully with tens of thousands and thousands of followers on social media, with kids and adults who watch and hearken to him,” Jane Doe’s legal professionals wrote within the grievance, referring to Ye’s upcoming album, titled Bully.
“He makes use of his social media platforms to bully anybody who disagrees with him, spew hate speech solely to disingenuously apologize for it repeatedly when he needs to advertise his music, live shows or merchandise,” the grievance continued.
CBC Information has reached out to Ye’s authorized counsel. Not one of the allegations have been confirmed in courtroom.
Ye, the rapper previously referred to as Kanye West, praised Hitler throughout a livestreamed interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, his newest in a string of antisemitic feedback. It is reinforcing fears that such hate goes mainstream.
Paperwork present textual content messages
Doe was employed in December 2023 as a advertising and marketing specialist for Ye and Yeezy, based on the grievance. The following month, after his album Vultures with Ty Dolla Signal was accused of antisemitic lyrics and cover art, Doe allegedly steered to a co-worker that Ye difficulty a press release condemning ties to Nazism.
The co-worker relayed that message to Ye, and based on a textual content message proven within the courtroom doc, Ye responded, “I’m a Nazi.” In different textual content messages proven within the grievance, Ye allegedly texted, “Welcome to the primary day of working for Hitler” to Doe and a number of other different Jewish workers in a bunch chat.
Different textual content messages presupposed to be from Ye embody statements insulting Jane Doe’s look and genitals, calling her trash and saying “hail Hitler.” He additionally made a threatening reference to a earlier tweet the place he incited violence in opposition to Jewish individuals, and stated, “now sue me, you corny a– b-tch,” based on the textual content messages proven within the grievance.
In line with the grievance, Doe complained to her supervisor on June 4, 2024, and was terminated on June 5. She’s looking for damages in opposition to Ye for financial, compensatory, emotional misery and humiliation, and punitive damages.
“Ye dared my consumer to sue, and we are going to see him in courtroom,” Shegerian stated in his assertion to CBC Information.
Dropped by his expertise agent
On Monday, expertise company 33&West confirmed it was now not representing Ye “on account of his current dangerous and hateful remarks,” multiple media retailers have reported.
Since final Thursday, he had been blasting his 34 million social media followers on X with a collection of antisemitic, misogynistic and racist posts. By Sunday afternoon, X proprietor Elon Musk had unfollowed Ye and said his account was now classified “NSFW” (not secure for work). A number of hours later, Ye stated his goodbyes, after which his account went darkish.
On Tuesday, Shopify, the Ottawa-headquartered e-commerce platform, took down Ye’s merchandise web site Yeezy.com, which had been promoting a $30 T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika because the weekend.
Ye has an extended historical past of offensive and antisemitic feedback, together with repeated reward of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He misplaced his profitable partnership with Adidas in 2022 over his remarks, and was beforehand locked out of Twitter (now X) and Instagram in 2022 for antisemitic posts.
His behaviour has been again within the public eye since final week. First, for his look on the Grammys along with his spouse, mannequin Bianca Censori, who walked the red carpet in a completely sheer dress, leaving her primarily bare.
He additionally revealed in a podcast last week that he was diagnosed with autism, and steered it was responsible for a few of his previous behaviour.
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