After being sued for discrimination and wrongful termination, Kanye West and his former bodyguard are currently engaged in a legal battle.
It has been said that the 46-year-old, who legally changed his name to “Ye,” treated his black staff “less favorably than their white counterparts.”
Benjamin Deshon Provo, a former member of West’s security team at his private school Donda Academy and the warehouse where the artist kept his Yeezy brand apparel, filed the case.
Allegation against Kanye West in Detail
According to the security guard, West fired him for refusing to trim his dreadlocks and “frequently screamed at and berated black employees” after learning of this.
The August 2021 case, filed in Los Angeles on April 26, verifies that Provo collaborated with the ‘Stronger’ lyricist and studied for six months at the Donda Academy—named for Provo’s late mother. In addition to attorney fees, he is requesting damages for alleged labor code violations, hostile work environment, retaliation, and discrimination.
It is said that he performed additional security detail work for West at his Yeezy facility after being compelled to take on more responsibilities owing to a staffing shortage. Additionally, he claims he was told to steal cameras from the paparazzi.
Provo further states that he observed “a stark difference” between the treatment he and the other black employees received from their supervisor and that of their “non-black counterparts”. In addition, it claims that he received a lower salary than non-Black workers “for no discernible reason,” characterizing West’s actions as “always abrupt, abrasive, and demeaning of plaintiff and his black counterparts.”