Kanye West is being sued for $7 million (£5.9 million) for allegedly failing to pay a production company that worked on his Donda 2 release show and scrapped Coachella performance.
Attorneys for Phantom Labs filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday claiming that the rapper owes the company $7.1 million (£6 million) in unpaid fees for the work they “faithfully performed” at his request.
“Event after event, Ye and his representatives promised that if Phantom continued work on the budgeted and approved projects, Phantom would be paid promptly for the balance and the new work,” wrote Howard King, Phantom’s attorney, in the complaint.
“More recent events have made clear that defendants have no intention of paying Phantom. Despite receiving multiple demand letters from Phantom, defendants continue inexplicably to withhold payment.”
In a statement to Billboard, a spokesperson for Phantom insisted that West left them with no choice but to pursue legal action.
“We are incredibly proud of the work that we did with Ye and are disappointed that such a fruitful relationship has come to this. A celebrity weaponizing fame and reputation to take advantage of eager collaborators is simply unacceptable,” they stated.
In the lawsuit, Phantom’s legal team claimed that the unpaid bills began to pile up from multiple projects – including four Sunday Service shows in November and West and Drake’s Free Larry Hoover concert in December – but they were assured they would be paid after the rapper collected his fee for Coachella. However, they were allegedly left high and dry when he withdrew from the festival.
“Ye suddenly pulled out of the festival – not only reneging on promises to pay Phantom’s multi-million-dollar balance, but also saddling Phantom with an additional $1.1 million in Coachella-related cancellation fees and other expenses incurred doing work on Coachella at defendants’ request,” the suit added.
West, who also goes by the legal name Ye, has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
