The lawsuit says Kanye wanted to remove the home’s windows and electricity to create an old bomb shelter

Los Angeles – Former project manager And Property Yee’s caretaker, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, said Yee fired him after he refused to remove all windows and electricity from his Malibu home, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

When Yee insisted that Tony Saxon move large generators to the house, he refused, and Yee ordered him to “get the hell out” and told him he “would be considered an enemy if he did not comply,” according to the complaint. Provided to NBC News by the Saxon law firm.

When the plaintiff refused to engage in illegal conduct or engage in activity that would cause him further physical harm, Mr Yee responded: “If you don’t do what I say, you won’t work with me, I won’t be your friend anymore and you’ll only see me on a screen.” Television,” the suit says, adding that Saxon told him he didn’t watch television.

The lawsuit says Yee fired Saxon, who also worked for him as a security guard and supervisor at the property, on Nov. 5, 2021, for not complying with his “dangerous” requests.

Saxon, who worked for Yee for about two months, claimed Yee promised to pay him $20,000 weekly but made only two payments — one to cover Saxon’s weekly salary and one for the project budget, according to the lawsuit.

“I always had his best interests in mind as a friend,” Saxon, 32, said in an interview, comparing the events that led to his expulsion to banning a friend from driving under the influence of alcohol.

“They’re really mad at you for overstepping your bounds, but still, they could have been really hurt,” he said.

Case details

The lawsuit alleges violations of multiple labor laws, including dangerous working conditions, unpaid wages, and wrongful retaliatory termination.

“He has shown reckless disregard for his employees and violated the law in incredibly serious ways throughout this entire project at his Malibu home,” Saxon’s attorney Ron Zambrano said in a statement describing the allegations in the lawsuit.

“He continues his pattern of not paying his bills while treating workers terribly. No employee should have to suffer the working conditions that Mr. Saxon had to endure, yet Yee showed no interest and just wanted the work done, despite the dangerous and unsafe, not to mention illegal, actions he was trying to force. “The plaintiff should do this,” Zambrano said.

Ye’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Build him a bat cave”

Saxon, who described himself in the interview as a man of many trades with a background in music, design and construction, said he was hired through a referral.

Saxon said Yee’s vision for the Tadao Ando-designed beach house, which he reportedly purchased in September 2021 in an off-market deal, was to make the home like a “2000s bomb shelter” by demolishing the custom marble bathrooms, removing the Custom marble. Customizing windows, plumbing, and electricity, and replacing stairs with sliders.

“We were going to get rid of all that and build him a bat cave,” Saxon said, where he said he could “hide from the Clintons and Kardashians.” He added that he initially thought Yee wanted to make a film. “Art project” — not a place to live.

“As we progressed, it became clear that he wanted to live here,” he said.

But Yi “didn’t want electricity,” Saxon said. He only wanted plants. He only wanted candles. He only wanted battery lights. “And he just wanted everything to be open and dark.”

“You can’t keep food in that house because you don’t have a refrigerator left,” he said. “You didn’t have windows. I had sea gulls flying by.”

Saxon said Yi did not want to be a “slave” to modern conveniences, nor did he want to be “available” to the government.

“It wants to be connected to a privatized Wi-Fi network,” Saxon said. “He wants to have an alternative source of energy. He wants to have no doors, no windows, no fixtures, he just wants concrete.”

He was fired after complaints were filed

Saxon, who said he lived and slept in the house while working there, described conditions as “miserable” and that Yee was unresponsive to his complaints.

Yee fired Saxon three days after he complained of a serious back injury during a team meeting, during which he allegedly ordered Saxon to remove power and windows, according to the complaint.

“I hope we can bury the hatchet, but I physically can’t do anything like this anymore,” Saxon said. “My neck and back were destroyed.”

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the same attorneys who are suing Yee over allegations involving his private Christian school, Donda Academy, and its predecessor, Yeezy Christian Academy.

In a lawsuit filed in April, two former Donda teachers alleged a series of bizarre rules, including bans on chairs, artwork on the walls, climbing stairs, and outside dining. The school menu has only one item – sushi – according to the suit.

Teachers also described an institution that had no disciplinary system, although there was a problem with bullying. In a separate lawsuit, the former assistant principal said that after the school opened in August 2021, it had no electricity — lessons were taught using generators — or glass in its windows.

The teachers’ trial is scheduled to begin in April 2025. The school’s lawyers and Yee’s lawyers have denied the allegations, with one saying that the teachers’ claims that “Dunda Academy is a miserable institution designed to please Yee’s idiosyncrasies” were false.

Ye was sued last week after his music was leaked through anonymous Instagram and X accounts. According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Ye’s lawyers said the leaks amounted to the theft of a trade secret.