Apparently, Kayne West was supposed to be in Los Angeles appearing at a court deposition. However, that didn’t happen, because the rapper was reportedly in Japan with his wife Bianca Censori at the time, meaning he was over 5,000 miles away from where he was supposed to be.
West was supposed to testify under oath last month, The U.S. Sun reported. However, he missed that because he was on another continent. In court documents the outlet saw, it was reported that:
Defendant Kanye West has unilaterally failed to appear for his scheduled deposition on October 28, 2024. It is crucial that Provo's counsel obtain this deposition in a timely manner to ascertain all relevant, pertinent facts in this case to allow Provo to fully prosecute his claims and prepare for trial.
In this particular case, Benjamin Deshon Provo is suing the rapper. He worked for Yeezy and West’s private school Donda Academy, and notably, this is not the first lawsuit related to him and his school.
He’s suing West for racial discrimination and unfair practices. The outlet noted that Provo, who “wore” dreadlocks “as a devout follower of the Muslim faith,” alleged that he was “berated and fired for refusing to cut his dreadlocks.” He also alleged that his former boss “demanded” that others also shave their heads at the school.
Along with that, Provo’s suit claims that Black employees received “less favorable treatment than their white counterparts.” Specifically, the suit alleges:
Specifically, Kanye frequently screamed at and berated Black employees, while in contrast, he never so much as raised his tone of voice toward white staff.
West, who again, didn’t show up to the deposition, has claimed what he did was “justified.” He also apparently has attempted to get this particular case dismissed.
Now, there is a hearing set for February 11 in LA. Provo’s team has moved for an order that would require Kanye West to be at the deposition. Along with that, he’s moving for another order to award sanctions. The document read:
Provo will also move for an order awarding sanctions against Defendants in the amount of $1,760 to compensate Provo for his time and expenses in litigating the instant motion.
In the lead-up to all this, it was reported that Provo sent proper notice to Ye (which is what he changed his name to a few years ago) on October 14. Apparently, the deposition notice was sent to Kanye’s alleged counsel as well as Yeezy HQ. The story does note that said headquarters are under construction at the moment.
The report went on to explain that lawyer Brian Brumfield does not represent Kanye anymore. After he was relieved, and his other lawyer, Manoj Shah, asked for an extension for discover issues. However, the filing claimed that both Brumfield and Shah haven’t “held themselves out as a representative of Defendant has served any responses to the discovery issue.” Along with that, it’s been reported that West does not have representation for his various other civil cases.
Other former employees of Donda Academy are suing West as well. For example, Cecilia Hailey and others are suing him for wrongful termination.
Outside of this issue, the rapper is also being sued for sexual assault by an ex-Yeezy employee, and his team responded, calling it a “baseless allegation” and that they’d be filing a suit against her. Also, earlier this year he was a suspect in a battery case, and he is facing other lawsuits as well.
Going back to Provo’s case, it’s unclear how Kanye West will respond to this and his travels. However, there is a trial date set for 2025 regarding all this. So, as we learn more, we’ll be sure to keep you posted.