Kanye West’s biggest business dramas from ‘scamming’ fans with bad concerts to suing his ex-employee for millions

KANYE West may be a successful rapper, but on the business side, the global superstar has faced setbacks and drama.

Fans, friends, and professional partners have all been burned by a Kanye deal or ideal gone wrong.

Kanye West has faced business setbacks and embarrassmentsCredit: Getty

Just last month, Kanye had some of his biggest fans vowing to boycott, after a performance that wasn’t in Los Angeles.

The 46-year-old was billed as the headliner for the Rolling Loud music festival, at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Rolling Loud even made sure to clarify that fans could expect a live show, before the duo took to the stage

The rap music icon took the stage alongside Ty Dolla $ign, whom he collaborated with on his album, Vultures 1.

However, fans were stunned when they realized that the event was not a concert at all, but rather just a listening party for his work.

Concertgoers complained that Kanye barely picked up a microphone, merely dancing around on stage for a few songs before leaving entirely, as a DJ played his older hits.

NEW MUSIC

Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign perform onstage during Rolling Loud 2024Credit: Getty

Kanye is also having trouble even dropping his new music.

In January, Kanye revealed that Vultures would be three volumes and announced the respective release dates as February 9, March 8, and April 5.

Vultures 1, which featured appearances from Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Chris Brown, and Lil Durk, came out a day late on February 10.

The album topped the Billboard 200 chart with 148,000 equivalent album sales.

Kanye West now banned from performing in Brazil after crazy rants as promoter says, ‘Nobody wants to be linked with him’
As for the second installment of the Vultures project, there has been no sign of it on any streaming platforms.

CONCERT BAN

Kanye has been banned from performing overseasCredit: Splash

The latest postponement comes after The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed that Kanye was told he couldn’t perform at venues across Europe, Asia, and Australia due to his controversial image.

Kanye recently approached promoters in Madrid, Berlin, Cologne and Munich, all in an attempt to drum up publicity for his new album.

But each country gave Ye a resounding no.

He also tested the waters in Asia, Australia, and the Middle East and faced a similar response.

A music insider claimed, “It will be very, very hard” for the controversial rapper despite maintaining a solid fanbase.

“His reputation and the controversies in the last few years are the main reason for this,” the source explained to The U.S. Sun.

“Now almost no companies that manage arenas or stadiums want to allow him to do shows on their venues.”

NDA LAWSUIT

Kanye West sued his former employee YesJulz for $8million for violating an NDACredit: Instagram/yesjulz

As Kanye struggles with live performances, he’s also just sued his former employee for $8 million for violating a non-disclosure agreement.

The rapper sued media personality YesJulz, born Julianne Goddard, and claims she exposed personal information.

Kanye shared a post on his Instagram Stories that showed a copy of the lawsuit filed against the talent manager.

“Julianne Goddard has repeatedly, intentionally and grossly violated the terms of her Non-Disclosure Agreement with complainants including publicly disclosing corporate sales figures, social media strategies, text messages with Ye and management, release plans for Vultures album and product designs before release,” it read.

YesJulz, 34, previously worked with Kanye on the rollout of his Vultures 1 album.

On March 12, Kanye announced that he had officially cut ties with the marketer.

In response to Kanye’s accusation that she broke the NDA, she posted, “F**k an NDA. Sue me.”

VIOLENT ALLEGATIONS

Alex Klein had plenty to say about working with KanyeCredit: alexklein_stemplayer

Kanye has also faced shocking allegations of violence from a former business partner, in a new BBC Two documentary titled The Trouble with KanYe.

The doc features Alex Klein, the man who helped Kanye with his Stem Player for his Donda 2 album, and he had plenty to say on the hitmaker.

The business duo went their separate ways after Kanye’s previous antisemitic remarks, and according to Alex, this led to the music star lashing out on him.

“Kanye was very angry you know, he was saying ‘I feel like I wanna smack you’ and ‘you’re exactly like the other Jews’ – almost relishing and reveling in how offensive he could be, using these phrases hoping to hurt me,” Alex claimed in the new documentary.

He continued, “I asked him and I said ‘Do you really think Jews are working together to hold you back?’ and he said ‘Yes, yes I do but it’s not even a statement that I need to take back because look at all the energy around me right now. Without that statement, I wouldn’t become president.”

THE SHOE DROPS

Adidas dropped Kanye after his antisemitic remarksCredit: Getty

Kanye’s career took a damaging hit in 2022 when he shocked the world by making antisemitic comments.

Back in October of that year, the Yeezy founder was dropped by Adidas and barred from various social media sites at least temporarily for his comments online and in interviews, including controversial fashion choices.

Weeks earlier Kanye had called out the company online, taunting their Chief Executive Officer Kasper Rorsted.

He wrote on Instagram at the time, “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”

Days later, he once again doubled down and said, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”

KANYE NEWS NETWORK

Kanye is contemplating his own news channelCredit: Getty

Perhaps most shocking of Kanye’s business dramas involved the creation of his own news network.

Late last year, the U.S. Sun reported Ye was quietly developing the idea, and even launched a demo website which his team were using to test their production.

A source said, “Ye is hugely ambitious but even his inner circle were shocked by these plans.

“He is convinced it could be a huge success if he does it the right way and his team have secretly been working on it for months.

“Ye’s plan is to give people something different than they get from the mainstream.

“It would be launched in the United States but his fans could tune in from anywhere around the world.

“Ye is really invested in this project and has a team testing the production daily.

“If he manages to pull this off it has the potential to become absolutely massive.”