Kanye West wanted every toilet, window, fireplace, and electrical outlet ripped out of his $57.3m Malibu mansion to create an 'off-the-grid shelter,' a jury heard as the rapper's civil trial opened in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
'He wanted no toilets. If people had to go Number 2, it was a hole in the ground,' plaintiff's lawyer Ron Zambrano told the court,Rolling Stone reported.
Tony Saxon, a construction worker who claims Ye owes him more than $1m in unpaid wages and damages, sat in court as both sides delivered sharply contrasting accounts of what happened inside the beachfront property designed by celebrated Japanese architect Tadao Ando.
Saxon is expected to take the witness stand on Wednesday.
Zambrano described Ye as a 'volatile visionary' whose ever-shifting demands created a dangerous work environment at the poured-concrete home on the Malibu shoreline.
Saxon was hired in September 2021 as project manager, security guard and live-in caretaker, the court heard. His now-wife,Bianca Censori, who was then pursuing her architectural licence while working for Ye, had first contacted Saxon for interior work on a referral.
Saxon was promised $20,000 a week but claims he received only a single payment,Courthouse News reported.
Ye wanted the property transformed into something 'simple, fresh, clean, with everything removed to be ultra-minimalist,' Zambrano said. Plans also included replacing cement steps with a three-storey slide descending into a pool near the ocean.
When Saxon was asked to help remove chimney stacks, he seriously injured his back, his lawyer alleged. The injury left him unable to stand for long periods or continue his work as a rare-records dealer.
Zambrano told jurors Saxon was later fired after raising concerns that generators on the site posed a risk of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
Source: International Business Times UK
