{"id":316271,"date":"2026-02-25T09:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316271\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:57:08","slug":"kanye-west-malibu-mansion-trail-begins-with-clash-over-demolition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316271\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West Malibu Mansion Trail Begins With Clash Over Demolition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Kanye West<\/a> ordered demolition inside the Tadao Ando\u2013designed Malibu mansion he purchased for $57.3 million in 2021, did his decisions lead to serious physical and financial harm for one of his construction workers, or were the claims fabricated to extract money from the wealthy rap artist now known as Ye?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was the question put to jurors Tuesday during opening statements at a trial in downtown Los Angeles<\/a>. The plaintiff, Tony Saxon, sat in court as his lawyer portrayed Ye as a volatile visionary who allegedly ordered Saxon to hollow out the beachfront mansion designed by the Pritzker Prize\u2013winning Japanese architect as part of an ever-shifting engineering experiment. Ye\u2019s attorneys countered that Saxon was an independent contractor, operating without a license, who earned more than $240,000 for roughly six weeks of work and is now seeking compensation for problems of his own making.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike the rest of us, Tony is not perfect. Like the rest of us, he has weaknesses. But he\u2019s intensely loyal, intensely hard-working. He shows up and works hard. And he\u2019s bi-polar. He goes through high highs and low lows,\u201d Saxon\u2019s lawyer, Ron Zambrano, told the jury.<\/p>\n

\n\tZambrano said Ye\u2019s now-wife, Bianca Censori, first contacted Saxon for some interior work at the home based on a referral. It was September 2021, when Censori was working for Ye while pursuing her architectural license. At the time, Ye was still married to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Saxon, the lawyer said, was soon hired as a project manager, security guard, and live-in caretaker at the contemporary poured-concrete home on the sandy beach along the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne morning before dawn, Ye arrived in a Lamborghini and took Saxon to breakfast at McDonald\u2019s, Zambrano said. \u201cYe notices Saxon doesn\u2019t smell good [because] he\u2019s living on the floor. He invites him to the Nobu [hotel], and the 22-time Grammy winner, global icon, then husband of Kim Kardashian draws Mr. Saxon a bath, lends him clothes, and then sends him back to the house,\u201d the lawyer said. At the time, Saxon thought Ye was \u201ca nice guy,\u201d the lawyer added.<\/p>\n

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\n\tZambrano said Ye envisioned transforming the property into an \u201coff-the-grid shelter\u201d that was \u201csimple, fresh, clean, with everything removed to be ultra-minimalist.\u201d According to the lawyer, Ye wanted toilets, plumbing, windows, electrical outlets, wiring, a jacuzzi, and fireplaces all ripped out and carted away.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe wanted no toilets. If people had to go Number 2, it was a hole in the ground,\u201d Zambrano said. When Saxon was asked to help remove the \u201cbeautifully made\u201d chimney stacks, he seriously injured his back, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

\n\tPacing in front of a jury of seven women and five men, Zambrano said Ye\u2019s plans also included replacing cement steps with a three-story slide descending into a pool near the ocean. Saxon, he claimed, was asked to oversee work at the house without permits.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen a neighbor, identified as an Israeli ambassador, allegedly complained about construction noise, Saxon attempted to befriend him, Zambrano said. The lawyer argued that Saxon was later fired after raising concerns that generators at the site posed a risk of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning. He said his client is still owed $75,000 for completed work, and he claimed Saxon\u2019s injuries caused lasting harm, leaving him unable to stand for extended periods or continue his work as a rare-records dealer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYe didn\u2019t just dismantle this beach house, he dismantled the rule book,\u201d Zambrano said. \u201c[Saxon] was in the way, and he was removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it was his turn to speak, Ye\u2019s lawyer, Andrew Cherkasky, offered a sharply different account. He said Saxon was paid handsomely for six weeks of work on the \u201carchitectural gem\u201d that Ye respected as a minimalist masterpiece. According to Cherkasky, Ye envisioned living in the home with his kids in a style akin to beach camping. Saxon, he said, was hired to perform \u201crenovation prep work\u201d but instead \u201cdestroyed the Ando house.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tCherkasky argued that Saxon wanted to keep the project \u201cunder the radar\u201d because he feared building inspectors might ask questions. Saxon was worried \u201che\u2019d be busted for being unlicensed,\u201d the lawyer said the evidence would show.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was Saxon who set for himself an impossible standard. He wanted to work 24\/7. He wanted to camp at the house. He wanted to be the guy in charge,\u201d Cherkasky said. \u201cYe will tell you he was shocked hearing there was no bathroom there. \u2026 Nobody asked [Saxon] to stay there, certainly not overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawyer said Saxon later told a mental health professional that he had quit his job with Ye. Cherkasky also claimed there\u2019s \u201cnot a single medical record\u201d showing Saxon was injured on the job.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[Saxon] claimed he broke his neck working for Ye. He did not,\u201d Cherkasky said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy who had almost nothing who came across an opportunity to work for a billionaire.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until two years later, after Ye found himself in his \u201cown bipolar place,\u201d that Saxon saw an opportunity to file a legal claim, Cherkasky said. Ultimately, he told jurors, the case \u201ccomes down to credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaxon first filed his lawsuit<\/a> in 2023. He claimed he was working as an employee of Ye\u2019s property company when he injured his back and was encouraged to keep working. Saxon claimed he was fired in retaliation when he raised safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe goes, \u2018If you don\u2019t do what I asked you to do, you\u2019re a Clinton. You\u2019re a Kardashian. You\u2019re an enemy and I\u2019m not going to be a friend anymore. I\u2019m not going to provide you with an opportunity anymore. You\u2019re only going to see me on TV,\u2019\u201d Saxon previously told Rolling Stone. \u201cI said to him, \u2018I don\u2019t watch TV\u2019 and he said, \u2018Get the fuck out.\u2019 And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYe\u2019s spokesman, Milo Yiannopoulos, attended the first two days of trial, sitting at the defense table with Ye\u2019s lawyers. During jury selection, several prospective jurors expressed disapproval of Ye and his antisemitic statements in recent years. The jurors ultimately selected said they could set aside personal opinions and follow the law. (The 12-member jury needs agreement from nine jurors to reach a verdict.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSaxon\u2019s case is the first to reach a jury among a wave of civil complaints filed by people who worked for Ye over the past six years. Ye, 48, faced more than a dozen lawsuits after a highly publicized Twitter tirade in October 2022, tweeting his now-infamous plan<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cgo death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.\u201d\u00a0Weeks later,\u00a0Rolling Stone\u00a0published an investigation into the\u00a0allegedly \u201ctoxic\u201d work environment at his Yeezy label<\/a>, where Ye purportedly told one staffer that \u201cskinheads and Nazis were his greatest inspiration.\u201d Ye later apologized\u00a0in an Instagram post written in Hebrew<\/a>, but he again promoted antisemitic ideology, sporting\u00a0a T-shirt for the Norwegian metal musician Burzum<\/a>, who has been fined for antisemitism. Ye also promoted\u00a0Vultures 1\u00a0with artwork<\/a> that seem to nod toward Burzum\u2019s cover art.<\/p>\n

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\n\tLast month, Ye purchased a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to apologize again<\/a> for his antisemitic remarks. In the statement, titled \u201cTo Those I\u2019ve Hurt,\u201d he coupled his apology with a discussion of his struggle with bipolar disorder. He said he was not properly diagnosed until 2023 and that head trauma from a 2002 car accident that shattered his jaw contributed to manic episodes and statements he now regrets.<\/p>\n

\n\tYe and Censori are both expected to testify at the trial, which is estimated to last another 10 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Kanye West ordered demolition inside the Tadao Ando\u2013designed Malibu mansion he purchased for $57.3 million in 2021,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,2126,47452,93,61,60,26614],"class_list":{"0":"post-316271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-controversy","10":"tag-courts-and-crime","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-kanye-west"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}