Kanye West is facing a lawsuit from a security guard named Jonathan Monroe, who says the rapper never paid him for the hours he worked for him and fired him when he asked to be paid.
In legal documents reviewed Tuesday by TMZMonroe said West, 47, told him in August 2021 that he would pay him a salary of $30 an hour to provide security at a Malibu, California, home that he tried to renovate without success.
Monroe said in legal documents that she racked up between 36 and 50 hours a week working for the Grammy-winning artist, whose career has foundered amid a torrent of anti-Semitic comments he has made since the fall of 2022.
Monroe told the court he was never paid a cent for his work and time, and in October 2021 he had been fired from work after complaining about lack of payment.
Monroe is suing West for unpaid wages, interest on the sum and punitive damages in the suit, which is filed three years after the brief work.
Kanye West, 47, faces a lawsuit from a security guard named Jonathan Monroe, who says the rapper never paid him for the hours he worked for him and fired him when he asked to be paid. Photographed in Los Angeles in May.
Monroe said West told him in August 2021 that he would pay him a salary of $30 an hour to provide security at a Malibu, California, home that he tried to renovate without success.
In July, West finally unloaded his Malibu mansion after slashing the asking price by a whopping $14 million.
The final price the mansion sold for was estimated at around $21 million. TMZ reported.
Rapper Heartless initially purchased the house in 2021, which was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Photos released in June showed the beachfront home completely destroyed. no windows.
In online records obtained by TMZWest’s mansion went into escrow in July. The property, which has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, was originally listed for $53 million, but in April of this year, the music artist reduced the asking price astronomically to $39 million.
West began construction work but did not complete the project on the 4,000-square-foot home, which sits next to the Pacific Ocean.
One of the workers who had been hired to help gut the house said The New Yorker in June that West had wanted to create an ‘air raid shelter’ and his ‘Batcave’.
Kulapat Yantrasat, an architect, also told the publication: “To be honest, he didn’t like the house, he didn’t like the interior.”
Originally, the mansion, which has no plumbing or electricity, had been painted white on the rear and had floor-to-ceiling windows on each level.
West, seen in Milan in February, is being sued for unpaid wages, interest on the sum and punitive damages in the lawsuit, which comes three years after the brief concert.
In online records obtained by TMZ, West’s mansion went into escrow last summer.
Photos taken in July revealed that the glass windows had been removed, leaving a clear view of empty concrete walls and floors.
The Grammy-winning artist notably enlisted Selling Sunset real estate agent Jason Oppenheim in his effort to sell the home late last year, TMZ previously reported in April.
Photos taken in July revealed that the glass windows had been removed, leaving a clear view of empty concrete walls and floors.
West in particular brought Selling to Sunset real estate agent Jason Oppenheim in his effort to sell the house late last year, TMZ previously reported in April.
Oppenheim told the outlet he was optimistic about the chances of selling the distressed property in the upscale area, likening the abode to “basically a blank canvas” for potential buyers.
The Carnival artist, who bought the house for $57 million in late 2021, previously failed to remodel it into an “air raid shelter” after involving famous Japanese architect Ando in the remodeling process.
Monroe’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of headaches related to West’s ill-fated house project in the exclusive Southern California beach town.
West was also sued by the redevelopment’s former project manager, Tony Saxon, who claims he was fired after he “expressed concerns about the extreme danger” of the project.
In September 2023, sources said TMZ that West wanted to remove the windows and electricity from the house to turn it into “a 1910s air raid shelter.”
In Saxon’s lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, he claimed he was hired for the project in September 2021 and worked 16 hours a day at the beach house.
In September 2023, sources told TMZ that West wanted to remove the windows and electricity from the house to turn it into “a 1910s bomb shelter.”
He claimed he was sleeping on the floor of the house while working as a “project manager, concierge and 24/7 security” for the property.
Saxon alleged that West only paid him for a week of work and ignored all of his concerns, until he was finally fired in November 2021 after refusing to remove the windows and electricity from the house.
In the lawsuit, Saxon said the rapper’s vision for the house was to make something like “a 1910s air raid shelter,” according to NBC Newsand knock down the marble bathrooms, as well as remove the windows, plumbing and electricity.
He also reportedly wanted to replace the stairs with slides.
Saxon reportedly sued West for a series of labor code violations, more than $1 million in unpaid wages and damages.
“We were going to take all of that away and build him some sort of Batcave,” Saxon explained, adding that the rapper wanted a place where he could “hide from the Clintons and the Kardashians.”
While Saxon believed the house was more of an “art project,” she later realized that West really wanted to live in it.
He said West “didn’t want electricity.” I just wanted plants. I just wanted candles. I only wanted battery powered lights. And he just wanted to have everything open and dark.’
