Kanye “Ye” West had a turbulent day on the witness stand Friday, repeatedly appearing to struggle to stay awake as he testified in the trial about the disastrous renovation of his former Malibu mansion.
According to Rolling Stonewho was present in the Los Angeles courtroom, the rapper “yawned repeatedly, closed his eyes for long stretches and at times appeared to catch his head falling forward” during his appearance in the second week of the trial.
The moment reached a climax when the lawyer representing the plaintiff reportedly turned away from the stand and said “is he sleeping?”, a question the presiding judge also appeared to ask, prompting them to ask the lawyer to “speed things up a bit” with their questioning.
When asked about the work on the property, Ye’s repeated response was a simple “I don’t remember.”
The lawsuit centers on a lawsuit filed by contractor Tony Saxon, who is suing Ye for unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions and wrongful termination.
Saxon claims he was forced to live at the property, a striking four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot Malibu estate designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, as Ye tried to transform it according to a series of unusual demands.
Those plans included making the property completely self-sufficient and “off the grid,” and at one point replacing a staircase with a slide.
Saxon claims he suffered an injury during the failed construction, was subsequently fired after raising safety concerns, and says Ye is responsible for his medical bills.
The results of the renovation speak for themselves.
The Ando-designed property, which Ye bought for $57 million in 2021, was stripped down to a bare “concrete shell,” left without windows, doors, electricity or plumbing.
He sold it at a staggering loss in 2024, offloading the estate for $21 million. The Saxon case is one of several legal matters Ye will face in court in the coming months.
