Accusations targetting Kanye West‘s alleged discrimination against black employees are doing rounds again as another former employee rose to the stand on Friday in a new lawsuit in Los Angeles.
Benjamin Deshon Provo, previously employed as a security guard at the embattled rapper’s private school, Donda Academy, in August 2021, has accused Ye of “frequently screaming” and firing him for his POC identity. In the complaint obtained by Page Six, West’s former employee claims to have been subjected to “severe emotional distress” until he was fired for wearing his hair in dreads.
The lawsuit alleges, “Kanye and members of his management team subjected Provo and other black employees to less favourable treatment than their white counterparts.”
Kanye West lawsuit explored
Provo’s suit underscores that Kanye “specifically” “frequently screamed at and berated black employees.” On the contrary, he “never so much as raised his tone of voice toward white staff.”
Additionally, the allegations against West highlight him allegedly ridiculing Provo for his dreadlocks, which he later refused to cut.
Provo’s complaint piles on to Kanye’s ongoing legal battle as earlier this month, he was treated to another Donda Academy employee’s allegations of “severe discrimination, harassment.”
The April 26 complaint by Provo notes that he first began working for the rapper in August 2021 before dedicating six months to Donda Academy. Once the school switched locations, Provo was “assigned additional job duties due to lack of staffing.” In addition to offering security services to Ye’s Sunday Services, he also worked at the Yeezy warehouse.
The plaintiff’s legal complaint states that Ye and his management team pushed Provo to “choose between … critical aspects of his self-identity and financial stability,” alluding to his preference for keeping his hair in dreads as part of his exercise of the Muslim faith. The ex-guard was ultimately allegedly wrongfully terminated for declining the order to cut his dreadlocks.
Provo’s suit even goes as far as claiming that Ye had him dispose of books related to prominent figures in the Black community, like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and more. The ex-Donda staffer asserted that Kanye “regularly expressed negative beliefs” in association with such black leaders.
These alleged accusations of racism fall in sync with former Donda Academy teacher Cecilia Hailey’s April 2023 lawsuit against Ye. Then, too, the Vultures rapper was accused of banning black history books. Hailey’s 2023 suit also foregrounds the basis of wrongful termination at the hands of Ye. The Power rapper is expected to appear at an April 2025 trial date for the same.
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