What Is Kanye West Accused Of? Donda Academy Allegations

Kanye “Ye” West wanted to install a jail to put students in “cages” at his private school, Donda Academy, according to a new lawsuit filed by a former employee.

Based in Simi Valley, California, Christian K-12 school Donda Academy—which was named after West’s late mother, Professor Donda West—said on its website that its mission was to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders.”

However, the school has been plagued with controversy since its 2022 opening. In October 2022, Donda Academy’s principal, Jason Angell, said in an email that the school was abruptly closing. It reopened soon afterward. Though the new lawsuit states that the school eventually closed in August 2023, it also says that “on information and belief, Donda Academy still operates to this day.”

According to a lawsuit filed by former Yeezy and Donda Academy staffer Trevor Phillips in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, West made antisemitic remarks, compared himself to Adolf Hitler, and showed preferential treatment to white staff members.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of West via email for comment.

Phillips, who joins a number of other former employees in suing West, alleged that when he started his stint of employment with the rapper in November 2022, it became “immediately apparent” that the star “treated the Black staff considerably worse than white employees.” West, the lawsuit said, would “scream and berate Black employees, while never even as much raising his tone at the white staff.”

At the time that Phillips joined the company, West faced a storm of backlash and financial losses over a string of antisemitic comments that he had made on social media and in interviews. A number of businesses cut ties with him as a result, including sportswear giant Adidas, which had worked with West on his Yeezy sneaker collections since 2015.

Adidas was already conducting a review of its relationship with West before his posts on X, formerly Twitter. The company launched a review in October 2022 after West wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy brand fashion show and publicly criticized Adidas. Forbes reported at the time that the end of the business relationship caused Ye’s net worth to plummet from $2 billion to $400 million.

According to Phillips’ lawsuit, West made similar antisemitic remarks throughout the time that he worked for the musician. West, Phillips has said, threatened to take aim at the LGBTQ+ community, allegedly stating that “gay people are controlled by Bill Gates so that they don’t have children for population control.”

Phillips has alleged that some of West’s purported rhetoric on such matters was shared in front of Donda Academy students. On one occasion, the lawsuit says, West told two children that he wanted them to “shave their heads and that he intended to put a jail at the school—and that they could be locked in cages.”

Per the lawsuit, Phillips has said that when he attempted to counter some of the views West allegedly espoused, the star “responded mercilessly, with incessant harassment, humiliation, and attempts to both mentally control, and destroy” him.

“Kanye’s ill-will towards the plaintiff ultimately culminated in a vulgar lashing in front of schoolchildren and their parents,” the lawsuit says. “Kanye even threatened Phillips with physical violence.”

Phillips was drafted in as a member of what West called the “Vertically Integrated Crew.” Initially, his role was to oversee projects relating to “growing cotton and other plants to use as materials” for Yeezy projects. However, Phillips has stated that his job soon included work at Donda Academy.

Further Allegations

According to Phillips, he was promised a paycheck of $100 per hour, though allegedly made significantly less than that amount for his role, which he described as requiring him to be on call at all hours of the day. Some payments were also delayed after Yeezy bank accounts were frozen amid West’s fallout with Adidas, per the suit. Phillips would sometimes receive money transfers from Donda Academy rather than from Yeezy for work he did for the latter, the suit alleges.

West is alleged to have told Phillips in January 2023 that he wanted him to convert a rundown church for use as a new Donda Academy campus after the landlord of the original site broke the lease over the rapper’s antisemitic remarks. Phillips has said that he and his team were given weeks to “complete the renovations without any permits.” Phillips has alleged that he was later demoted after questioning the legality and safety of the project.

Elsewhere, the lawsuit alleges that in school meetings West threatened to fire any employee who became overweight, said that he “only likes to date white women,” and is accused of gloating about allegedly taking $2 million from Donda Academy’s budget to take a trip to Paris.

Phillips also accused West of requesting that the two meet at Nobu Hotel in Malibu, where the star allegedly praised Nazi leader Hitler at length—”Hitler was great. Hitler was an innovator! He invented so many things. He’s the reason we have cars,” West said, according to the lawsuit—and questioned the authenticity of the Holocaust, saying: “That was fake.” He is also alleged to have said that “gay people are not true Christians.” In a text message to Phillips at another time, West allegedly compared himself to Hitler, “minus the gas chambers.”

During their time at the hotel, the venue’s staff entered the room and played the 2022 movie The Batman, which Phillips says the two men watched on mute. Phillips has alleged that West lied flat on the bed and “began to make slow up and down motions with his hand just above his genitals as though he was masturbating.” Per the lawsuit, West also allegedly talked about his sex life at the time.

According to the lawsuit, West allegedly video-called a woman while they were at the hotel, and told her to wear lingerie and shoes that he had previously purchased for her. Phillips said that he “immediately recognized the female’s name because only a few weeks earlier, while at the Yeezy headquarters, Kanye had flaunted nude pictures of her to many of the Yeezy staff members.”

Phillips has alleged that he was fired by West in front of dozens of people during a Sunday Service session at the school in May 2023. West, the suit says, was angered by an issue with the garden. Phillips says that when he tearfully responded that his daughter attended Donda Academy, and that he was grateful to have the job because of a medical condition, West allegedly yelled and cursed at him while disparaging the complainant and his daughter.

Following the alleged incident, Phillips stated that he continued to work for West until August 2023, which is when he says Donda Academy shut down. Phillips—who alleges discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination, among other claims—is seeking more than $35,000 in damages.

In December, West issued an apology in Hebrew for his antisemitic comments, writing in a since-deleted message: “I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community…It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused.

“I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.”