Kanye West tasked his “fixer” to investigate his Kardashian in-laws, hired private investigators to trail his wife Bianca Censori and had a pattern of “erratic behavior” after taking nitrous oxide, according to a new lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone.
A Michigan John Doe filed a 22-page lawsuit against the rapper — who legally changed his name to Ye — on Thursday in Los Angeles, on counts of emotional distress, retaliation and several violations of California labor codes. The filing marks the latest legal headache for West, who is facing numerous lawsuits from former employees, an ex-assistant and teachers of his private Christian school, Donda Academy.
Doe is the second former staffer to raise concern about West’s alleged nitrous oxide use, after his former chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos claimed that celebrity dentist Thomas P. Connelly was hooking West up with copious amounts of laughing gas for recreational use. (Connelly has previously denied the claims.)
“My client believes there is a direct correlation between the nitrous oxide and the increase in paranoia and siege mentality that ended up happening in that timeframe” that Doe worked for West, his attorney Ronald Zambrano tells Rolling Stone. “There were internal concerns about the amount of nitrous oxide that was being delivered to his house.”
As West was considering yet another presidential run in December 2022, West hired Doe to be his campaign manager. But Doe says his role shifted when West ramped up his since-failed presidential campaign effort, becoming “Director of Intelligence” for Yeezy.
As part of his new “fixer” position, Doe claims he was tasked with preemptively trying to limit West’s risks and bad press. He was also allegedly responsible for handling NDAs and conducting various investigations, including on the Kardashian family and West’s new wife Censori — Yeezy’s head of architecture who West married in December 2022. “A particularly notable task by Ye,” the lawsuit claims, “was to have Doe hire private investigators to follow and ‘tail’ his wife, Bianca Censori, when she was traveling alone to visit family in Australia, without Ms. Censori’s knowledge.”
Reps for Kardashian and Censori and an attorney for West did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
In May, Doe claims he began witnessing West exhibit “erratic behavior,” claiming the rapper splashed out a reported $850,000 for a set of titanium teeth and let go “a large majority of the Yeezy leadership,” which included Yiannopoulos. A source close to the situation previously told Rolling Stone that around 20 other Yeezy employees had left the brand because of West’s alleged personal issues.
These rash events coincided with West allegedly consuming nitrous oxide, which Doe says he believes played a role in West’s decision-making at the time.
Doe’s employment came to an end in mid-May, the lawsuit claims, when he allegedly received a call from a Donda Academy teacher regarding safety concerns they had about some of the students. Doe claims he informed Yeezy leadership about the call and “almost immediately” West allegedly “called Doe to yell, curse and threaten Doe with great bodily injury, including death, if Doe repeated what Doe learned from the Donda employee.”
West allegedly played a recording of “scary voices that were threatening to harm” Doe and told Doe that he was “fucking dead to [him],” according to the suit.
In the following days, Doe claims that West’s “enforcers” would threaten him — triggering his PTSD from his previous military experience. “[Doe] experienced panic attacks, anxiety, and severe emotional distress, which caused him to seek medical treatment and was placed in a facility to address his declining mental health,” his lawsuit claims.
Doe is seeking restitution of unpaid wages, attorneys’ fees, and general and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
