The man suing Kanye West over injuries allegedly suffered during demolition of a famed Malibu mansion testified on Wednesday, Feb. 25, that the rapper, now known as Ye, ordered him to live round-the-clock at the coastal construction site and twice jolted him awake in the middle of the night without warning.
Tony Saxon said that on one occasion, he woke to find Ye towering over his small makeshift bed. Jurors saw a photo of Saxon’s small mattress splayed on a bare concrete floor beside a case of bottled water and some Ensure protein drinks.
“He stood over me and asked, ‘Why are you not working?’” Saxon recalled after being sworn in as the first witness at the civil trial in downtown Los Angeles. “It was like three or four in the morning. I said, ‘I have to sleep sometime.’”
Saxon, 35, said he was unsure how seriously to take the question but recalled that Ye “chuckled” at his response. He testified that the two had developed a friendly rapport, and he continued working for the Grammy-winning artist, who was married to Kim Kardashian at the time, for six weeks beginning in September 2021.
The two men exchanged frequent messages, addressing each other as “brother” and responding with heart emojis, according to text messages displayed Wednesday on courtroom screens. But Saxon said Ye kept him constantly on edge, demanding photo updates of construction work, scolding him for wearing blue instead of the all-black worker uniform Ye preferred, and suddenly adding 24/7 security duties to his workload.
During a full day on the witness stand, Saxon walked jurors through pages of text messages filled with photos, updates, and even a budget Saxon authored at one point. He said Ye hired him as a project manager overseeing the aggressive gutting of the contemporary, poured-concrete home designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, which Ye purchased for $57.3 million earlier that same year.
“He wanted to turn the home into an open-concept, off-the-grid bunker, with privatized Wi-Fi and renewable energy,” Saxon told the jury of seven women and five men. “He didn’t want to be connected to the city’s power grid or water grid.”
Saxon said Ye ordered all wiring and plumbing removed, along with a jacuzzi, chimney, two fire pits, and a “gorgeous” black-marble bathroom veined in white. One “experimental element,” he said, involved removing all glass and windows. “The whole house needed to be open, very bare, minimalistic,” he testified.
Editor’s picks
Saxon said he returned to the house one night and learned the night watchman he had come to know and admire had been fired. “Since you’re going to be there so much, running shifts, you should be the security,” Ye allegedly told Saxon. “Stay here now. You can’t leave,” Ye purportedly demanded, per Saxon’s testimony.
During opening statements on Tuesday, Feb. 24, Ye’s lawyer told jurors the evidence would show Saxon was an unlicensed contractor who unilaterally “destroyed” the “architectural gem” while working as an independent contractor, not an employee. Attorney Andrew Cherkasky argued it was Saxon who wanted to keep the project “under the radar” out of fear that inspectors would discover he was unlicensed.
For his part, Saxon testified Wednesday that Ye insisted the work remain inconspicuous because no permits had been pulled. “He said, ‘No [permits],’ and that it was extremely important we keep everything under the radar and low-key so we don’t get shut down,” Saxon claimed.
In one text message shown to jurors, Saxon wrote to Ye: “We should probably chill for a bit on major noise outside until Monday, not to draw attention.” Saxon said he sent the message after Ye expressed concern.
Related Content
Later, when Saxon sent a photo of generators purchased to replace stripped electrical systems, Ye replied: “Praise the lord. How loud are they?”
In yet another exchange, Saxon wrote: “Just got another huge load of trash discreetly out of here too.” Ye responded with a heart emoji and wrote, “Awesome, keep sending updates.”
Describing his sleep-deprived tenure on the project, Saxon said Ye could also be unexpectedly kind. After noticing Saxon hadn’t showered for days, Ye took him to the Nobu Hotel in Kardashian’s Lamborghini, he testified.
“I stunk,” Saxon said. “He ran the bath for me, put out the towel, and said, ‘You’ll never forget this moment.’ And I said, ‘Goddamn right I won’t.’ And we had a laugh about that.”
Saxon told jurors he later suffered a severe back injury while dismantling two chimney stacks using a pulley system with chains. “The full force of the spire going down yanked my body and whiplashed me,” he testified, asking the judge several times if he could stand and stretch during testimony.
Cherkasky told jurors Tuesday there is “not a single medical record” showing Saxon was injured on the job. Saxon’s lawyer, Ron Zambrano, told the jury pool on Monday that it was true his client did not immediately seek treatment. “He’s not somebody who does what most people with health insurance who don’t get fired by celebrities do,” Zambrano said.
Saxon is expected to return to the stand on Thursday. The trial is projected to last another two weeks. Ye and his wife, Bianca Censori, are also expected to testify.
According to Saxon, Censori first contacted him for handyman work when she was acting as an architectural consultant on the project. He testified she was briefly “benched” before being brought back after Ye expressed dissatisfaction with a computer rendering of an indoor slide he wanted to run from the third floor into a pool below. At one point, Saxon said, Ye envisioned the pool generating electricity. Jurors also viewed 3-D renderings showing rooms outfitted with egg-shaped appliances powered by standalone systems that Ye sent to Saxon.
Originally from New Jersey, Saxon first filed the labor lawsuit in 2023, alleging labor code violations and retaliation. Zambrano told jurors that Saxon was fired after raising concerns that three large generators installed after the home’s electricity was removed posed a risk of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
“He goes, ‘If you don’t do what I asked you to do, you’re a Clinton. You’re a Kardashian. You’re an enemy … You’re only going to see me on TV,’” Saxon previously told Rolling Stone. “I said, ‘I don’t watch TV,’ and he said, ‘Get the f— out.’ And that was it.”
Trending Stories
Milo Yiannopoulos, a spokesman for Ye, sat at the defense table again on Wednesday after attending jury selection. The 12-member jury can only reach a verdict if at least nine jurors agree.
The case is the first to reach trial among a wave of civil complaints filed by former employees in recent years. Ye faced more than a dozen lawsuits following antisemitic remarks in 2022 and later issued multiple public apologies. Last month, he issued an apology in a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal and linked his behavior to bipolar disorder and past head trauma.
