Kanye West’s Donda Academy accused of bullying culture, pay discrepancies and more in new lawsuit
Kanye West has been accused in a lawsuit of allowing a bullying culture to permeate his Donda Academy, among several other complaints.The rapper founded the Christian preparatory private school in Simi Valley, California last September with an aim to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders”.A lawsuit launched by two former teachers at the school, which Rolling Stone has obtained, claims that the academy fostered an environment of bullying, violated health and safety measures, and had infrastructure and rules in place that negatively impacted student welfare.The two claimants in the lawsuit, Cecilia Hailey and her daughter Chekarey Byers, alleged that they were unfairly fired from the Donda Academy last month in retaliation for reporting code violations.Additionally, they claim that they experienced racial discrimination and received payslips with money missing in the thousands.Representatives for the Donda Academy did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.A lawyer for Hailey and Byers, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement: “Kanye West is clearly as bad at running a school as he is at managing his own personal and professional life, enabling an unsafe and illegal school environment for students that also discriminated against the plaintiffs based on their race.“These egregious violations at Donda Academy are just another example of West’s unusual behaviour, and our clients just won’t stand for it, no matter his celebrity status.
Kanye needs to realise his genius is in creating music, not in school administration.”Byers added: “I’m extremely sad about all of this.
