Kanye "Ye" West Appeared in Court Regarding Failed Renovation of Malibu Mansion, Testifying After Wife Bianca Censori

Chinyere Ibeh
18 minutes ago
3 min read

The lawsuit deals with the alleged unpaid wages of a contractor hired to work on the home.

a graphic featuring "Ye" and Bianca Censori — "Ye" and Bianca Censori both testify in the case regarding the failed renovations of West's former Malibu mansion.

Ye, formerly Kanye West, appeared in court on Friday (March 6) to testify in a civil matter regarding the botched renovation of a $57 million Malibu mansion.

The mansion, designed by architect Tadao Ando, was left as a “concrete shell” after a failed renovation project, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. Tony Saxon, a contractor hired to work on the project, is suing the Chicago-born rapper for more than $1 million. He alleges wrongful termination, hazardous working conditions, and unpaid wages.

According to Saxon, Ye promised him $20K a week — he allegedly only made partial payments. Saxon claimed he was made to sleep on the mansion’s concrete floor, and he was later fired for refusing to perform dangerous tasks.

Ye appeared tired during his testimony, often closing his eyes for lengthy periods of times and caught his head falling forward. Ye once asked Ron Zambrano, the lawyer representing Saxon, to repeat a question, according to Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon.

“When you hired Saxon, did you understand you had hired Saxon to help you execute your vision for the Ando house,” the courtroom stenographer read.

Ye asked the stenographer to repeat the question again before he ultimately answered “yes.” Lawyers representing Saxon took note of Ye’s “sleepy performance on the stand,” later turning around to mouth “Is he asleep?”

According to Saxon, Ye hired him knowing that he wasn’t a licensed contractor and he also failed to obtain worker’s compensation insurance. This would mean that Ye is not only on the hook for unpaid wages, but also damages relating to medical expenses, loss of earnings and emotional distress.

Ye’s lawyers focused on Saxon’s lack of a contractor’s license, which doesn’t allow for compensation in California nor could he sue for unpaid wages. Not only does the case focus on Saxon’s nonexistent contractor’s license, but whether Saxon pretended to have said license.

Bianca Censori, Ye’s wife, claims that Saxon did pretend to have his contractor’s license. Australian-born Censori, who has a Master’s degree in architecture, said she once stopped by the mansion and allegedly asked Saxon if he had a license. According to Censori, Saxon proceeded to say he had his contractor’s license.

Censori later said that people in Ye’s inner-circle tend to oversell themselves, and Saxon was essentially no different. She claimed Saxon inserted himself into the ambitious project.

“People will say yes to him just so they can stay in his orbit, for opportunities,” she said. “Once I was removed, there was an opportunity for someone else to step in, which he did.”

Censori appeared sharp and alert as she answered quickly while smiling at Saxon’s attorneys, according to Hillel Aron for Courthouse News. Though, she claimed to not remember certain details she was asked about.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brock Hammond grew impatient with the pace of Roger Haag’s questioning — Haag represents Saxon in the case. Judge Hammond routinely asked Haag to “move on to the next question” or “next topic” and sustained many objections about the relevance of a question.

Text messages between Censori and Saxon were shown during testimony. The messages showed Saxon keeping Censori updated on the renovation, which contradicted her claims that she was far removed from the project. The messages also showed she was informed of Saxon’s back problems.

“My back is so f–ked,” he told Censori in one text. “Is his chiropractor there?” Censori didn’t pass on Saxon’s request to Ye, claiming it wasn’t her business.

Following both Ye and Censori’s testimonies, the trial will soon come to an end as the court will hear closing arguments with jury deliberations soon after. The trial is expected to end next week.

Saxon’s lawsuit is only one of almost a dozen lawsuits filed by former employees, many of whom worked at the rapper’s short-lived private school, Donda Academy. Employees and students claimed they couldn’t use the school’s second floor because Ye was allegedly “afraid of stairs.”