It takes a certain kind of audacity to nearly fall asleep during your own court case, but Ye — the rapper and cultural provocateur formerly known as Kanye West — reportedly came close to doing exactly that during proceedings tied to his now-gutted Malibu mansion. The courtroom drama unfolded during the second week of a civil trial in Los Angeles, and by all accounts, the defendant was struggling to keep his eyes open.
According to Rolling Stone reporter Nancy Dillon, who was present in the courtroom, Ye “was yawning, closing his eyes for extended periods, and his head was drooping forward” on multiple occasions throughout the session. The scene was striking enough that it caught the attention of others in the room. At one point, the plaintiff’s attorney turned away from the bench and whispered, “Is he sleeping?” The presiding judge noticed as well and promptly asked counsel to speed things along.
The lawsuit at the center of the trial was filed by contractor Tony Saxon, who claims he was hired to carry out extensive renovations on Ye’s former Malibu property, a striking concrete home originally designed by celebrated Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Saxon alleges he was forced to live on the property while attempting to execute what he describes as erratic and highly unusual construction demands from the rapper, which included converting staircases into slides and working toward making the estate entirely self-sufficient and disconnected from public utilities. When asked by attorneys about various decisions made during the renovation process, Ye repeatedly responded with some variation of “I don’t remember.”
Saxon’s suit goes well beyond unpaid wages. He claims he sustained injuries while working on the property under dangerous conditions and that he was wrongfully terminated in retaliation after raising safety concerns with the team. He is also seeking compensation for his medical expenses, which he argues Ye is directly responsible for given the circumstances surrounding his on-site injury. The legal complaint paints a picture of a chaotic work environment where basic safety standards were routinely disregarded.
The property itself has become something of a cautionary tale about unchecked renovation ambitions. Ye purchased the four-bedroom Malibu estate in 2021 for $57 million, a jaw-dropping sum even by celebrity real estate standards. The home, celebrated for its dramatic fusion of architecture and natural coastal landscape, was subsequently stripped down to what can only be described as a bare concrete shell. It was left without windows, doors, running water, or electricity. After the renovation effort collapsed entirely, Ye sold the property in 2024 for just $21 million, absorbing a staggering loss of roughly $36 million.
This trial is one of several legal matters Ye is expected to face in the coming months, adding yet another layer to an already turbulent period in the rapper’s public life. The Malibu case has drawn particular attention not just for the headline-grabbing details about the ruined home, but for the glimpses it offers into Ye’s working relationships and decision-making during that period. Saxon’s account suggests a project that was disorganized from the start and grew increasingly difficult to navigate as demands from the top became harder to rationalize.
Tadao Ando, the architect who originally designed the Malibu home, is widely regarded as one of the most important living architects in the world, having won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, which is essentially the Nobel Prize of the architecture world. The house Ando designed for the Malibu site was considered a masterwork of his signature style, which uses raw concrete and natural light to extraordinary effect, making what happened to it all the more remarkable to those in design and architecture circles. Tony Saxon is far from the only person to have taken legal action connected to Ye’s business dealings, as the rapper has faced a series of lawsuits from collaborators and employees over the past several years across multiple industries.
What do you think about the courtroom developments in Ye’s Malibu trial — share your thoughts in the comments.
