Kanye “Ye” West had a turbulent day on the witness stand Friday, repeatedly appearing to have trouble staying awake during his trial testimony 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 periods of time and sometimes appeared to catch his head falling forward” during his appearance in the second week of the trial.
The moment came to a head when the attorney representing the plaintiff allegedly turned away from the stand and said, “Is he sleeping?”
The presiding judge also appeared shocked, telling them to ask the lawyer to “make things a little livelier” with their questioning.
Asked about work done on the property, Ye repeatedly responded, “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 on the property, a stunning four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot Malibu estate designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, as Ye attempted to transform it according to a series of unusual demands.
Those plans included making the property fully self-contained and “off-grid,” and at some point replacing a staircase with a slide.
Saxon alleges he was injured during the construction failure, was later fired after raising safety concerns, and that Ye is responsible for his medical expenses.
The results of the renovation speak for themselves.
The Ando-designed property, which Ye purchased for $57 million in 2021, was reduced to a mere “concrete shell,” left without windows, doors, electricity or plumbing.
He sold it at a huge loss in 2024, getting rid of the estate for $21 million. The Saxon case is one of several legal cases Ye will face in court in the coming months.
