Kanye West’s former Donda Academy staffer is asking a judge to block the rapper from using his mental state as a defense in their upcoming legal battle, arguing that West never previously claimed he was of “unsound mind” when the alleged discrimination took place.
Benjamin Provo, who worked at West’s Donda Academy in 2021, filed court documents seeking to prevent the musician from arguing that he was not in his right mind when he allegedly discriminated against him.
According to the court documents, Provo claims West is attempting to raise the mental-health defense shortly before the case is due to go to trial, despite allegedly never providing medical records, testimony or an expert witness to support such a claim. Provo also says West repeatedly indicated during his deposition that he had been of sound mind during the events at the school.
The documents point to an exchange in which West was asked: “Do you feel like around the time you had the [Donda] school, you were not yourself around that time?” West allegedly responded: “No. I think that was close to me being myself, but people change, though, too,” before adding, “sometimes I intend to do good and still end up in deposition.”
According to Provo, West also acknowledged during the deposition that he preferred employees to have a uniform appearance, while denying that he fired Provo because of his dreadlocks. Provo’s lawsuit alleges that he was fired because of his hairstyle and claims West treated Black employees more harshly while being more lenient toward White employees.
West has denied the allegations contained in the lawsuit. The former staffer is now asking the court to prevent West from introducing an “unsound mind” defense, arguing that he has not supported the claim with the evidence required for it to be considered at trial.
The legal dispute comes as West is also seeking to prevent evidence of some of his past social media posts praising Nazi ideology and Adolf Hitler from being presented in court. The trial is currently scheduled to take place in October.