When a construction worker’s lawsuit over Kanye West’s troubled Malibu mansion project kicks off in a Los Angeles courtroom this week, everyone better be dressed appropriately, a judge warned Friday.
The judge didn’t mention any potential rule-breakers by name, but West, now known as Ye, famously sold T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas, while his wife Bianca Censori once wore an “invisible dress” made from pantyhose material on the Grammys red carpet. The rapper and his wife are both expected to testify at the trial, which is scheduled to last 12 days. It’s also possible Censori will sit at the defense table as a representative of her husband’s company, the couple’s lawyer, Andrew Cherkasky, said on Friday.
“The parties and witnesses you’re calling must comply with the basic dress code of the court. No hats, sunglasses, or revealing clothing. No drama,” Judge Brock T. Hammond said at the final status conference Friday. “And if someone doesn’t comply, they will not be allowed in the courtroom. If a witness is not dressed appropriately, they will be turned around at the door.”
The trial will zero in on claims that Ye and his property company hired plaintiff Tony Saxon in September 2021 to oversee renovations of the beachfront mansion designed by Pritzker Prize–winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando. In a saga that made headlines nationwide, Ye purchased the stunning home for $57.3 million in 2021 and stripped it to its bare concrete shell before finally unloading it in September 2024 for just $21 million, marking a staggering loss. The buyer, Steve “Bo” Belmont, told the Los Angeles Times that his goal was to restore the architectural gem, “to make it as though Kanye was never there.”
According to the lawsuit, Saxon agreed to oversee the project while living on the property and providing round-the-clock security. Saxon alleges he was promised $20,000 a week but received only a single payment. He further alleges he slept at the construction site without a bed and struggled to meet what he describes as increasingly extreme demands. He contends he was fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns.
On Friday, Cherkasky expressed his own concerns about the trial. He said it was possible members of the public with “very strong opinions” might show up wearing their own shirts with potentially offensive content. The judge said people with “specific messaging” on their attire would be “excluded” from the courtroom.
Cherkasky also raised concerns that Ye’s presence at the courthouse might create security issues. “I’m nervous about safety,” he said, noting that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance earlier this week at a different courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
“Mr. Zuckerberg was mobbed by people who were touching and grabbing him,” Cherkasky said. If Ye is “just standing in the hallway” during court breaks, “it could be a dangerous situation” for him and others, he said. “I’m requesting, even if it’s just a closet or some sort, that we have some place we can go where there’s a zone of safety for my client,” Cherkasky said.
“There is no special treatment for anyone in this courthouse,” the judge replied. “I can tell you that court security knows this case is coming up. There will be a deputy in the courtroom.”
If no last-minute settlement is reached over the next few days, Saxon’s lawsuit will become the first to reach a jury trial out of a wave of civil complaints from plaintiffs who worked for Ye over the last six years. Ye, 48, was famously sued more than a dozen times after going on a highly publicized antisemitic tirade several years ago. In October 2022, he tweeted his now-infamous plan to “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.” Weeks later, Rolling Stone published an investigation that found he presided over a “toxic” work environment at his Yeezy label, telling one staffer that “skinheads and Nazis were his greatest inspiration.” Ye later apologized in an Instagram post written in Hebrew, but he again promoted antisemitic ideology, sporting a T-shirt for the Norwegian metal musician Burzum, who has been fined for antisemitism. West also promoted Vultures 1 with artwork that evoked Burzum’s cover art.
Last month, Ye purchased a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to apologize again for his antisemitic remarks. In the statement, titled “To Those I’ve Hurt,” he coupled his apology with a discussion of his struggle with bipolar disorder. Ye said he was not properly diagnosed until 2023 and that head trauma sustained in a 2002 car accident, which left his jaw shattered, contributed to manic episodes and statements he now deeply regrets.
At trial, Ye is expected to face claims he directed Saxon to remove all electricity and windows from the Malibu home and rely only on large generators to power the renovation. Saxon says he objected, warning that the plan posed a serious fire hazard and created “extreme danger” to his safety. According to the underlying lawsuit, Ye dismissed those concerns, accused Saxon of being “an enemy,” and told him to “get the hell out.”
In an Instagram post, Saxon said Ye’s vision for the home was “open concept BUT off the grid.” He said Ye wanted a bomb shelter in the basement and “NO ELECTRICITY NO WINDOWS NO PLUMBING and NO STAIRS!!!” Saxon alleges he injured his back during the project. His lawsuit is seeking unpaid wages, medical expenses, and damages for lost earnings and emotional distress. Saxon’s lawyers, Ronald Zambrano and Neama Rahmani, previously won a multimillion-dollar verdict for a plaintiff who sued Soulja Boy.
North West with her mom at a Lakers game in 2024
North West Was Born To Be a Star
As the celebrity children of the 2010s come of age and follow in their parents’ footsteps, we’ve arrived at the next generation of nepo babies. There’s no better example right now than North West, scion of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s celebrity empire, who, at 12 years old, seems poised to become a fixture in the future of not only music but also fashion. Take her recent single, “Piercing on My Hand,” which arrived on DSPs on Feb. 6, and was reported as a soul-sampled track produced by Ye and Will Frenchman. The single was reportedly released via Gamma., the independent music company co-founded by former Apple exec Larry Jackson in 2023 — the same company Ye recently partnered with for the release of his upcoming album, Bully. She also joined her dad onstage in Mexico City to debut “Piercing on My Hand” live. It’s a position that’s by now familiar for North, who previously appeared on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures single “Talking/Once Again,” which reached Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also charted in the U.K.
Perhaps this all represents a maximalist approach to the challenge of raising kids in the public eye. While it’s common to see celebrities attempt, with varying levels of success, to shield their children from the limelight, North has been slowly learning how to navigate being born into fame. This week, People reported that her mom, Kim Kardashian, filed applications in January to trademark the company name “NOR11” for use in the sale of clothing and accessories, including dresses, footwear, loungewear, hats, watches, jewelry, handbags, and cosmetics cases. North has already gained attention for her sense of style, raising eyebrows after revealing piercings on her middle finger last September, prompting online criticism because of her age. Her debut single is partly inspired by the controversy.
In addition to “Piercing on My Hand,” North has since racked up a handful of production credits for the underground rap staple Babyxsosa, including “Tokyo” and “Viral,” released as loosies on social platforms last month. The latter samples Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa” with a kind of dense, atmospheric texture that also recalls “Hold My Liquor,” the Chief Keef-assisted cut from Kanye’s 2013 opus Yeezus. North West’s producer tag, an anime voice squeaking “North-Chan” in Japanese with the sweetness of a kids’ video game, is already on its way to becoming iconic. In January, she landed a notable early placement as a producer on “Justswagup,” a single by Mag!c and Lil Novi — Lil Wayne’s son, who is 16 years old, putting him, like North, squarely in the “next-gen rap royalty” conversation.
Last month, North went on Instagram Live and answered questions from her followers about her journey learning how to make music, sharing snippets of in-progress beats, and describing more about her inspirations. That she’s so far leaned into the sound of her generational cohort, a frenetic, almost hyperpop-infused take on hip-hop, is more evidence of the genre’s changing sound. For their part, both of North’s parents are offering their support. On Monday, Kim Kardashian shared a clip on her Instagram of her listening to North’s song in the car, despite what would appear to be ongoing acrimony between Ye and Kim.
North is less a carbon copy of her parents than a Gen Alpha translation. At 12 years old, she was raised in the feed, is fluent in online culture, and is learning early that identity is something you can iterate in public. The nepo-baby conversation, which typically ascribes unearned privilege and access to the children of celebs, falls short of describing what’s actually interesting about North West. She represents how childhood, branding, and art are collapsing into a single timeline, and she is already moving through it like it’s her native language.