Kanye West has responded to a lawsuit filed by three former teachers from his private Christian school Donda Academy in Simi Valley, California.
Cecilia Hailey, Chekarey Byers and Timanii Meeks filed a lawsuit, claiming they were fired from the school for voicing concerns about the institution’s “unlawful educational practices,” and West responded by having his lawyer request the lawsuit be dismissed.
The “Praise God” singer’s attorney Gregory Suhr filed paperwork on June 20 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, requesting that the former teachers’ lawsuit be dismissed. Suhr claimed, in documents obtained by RadarOnline, that the lawsuit portrays the school in a false light.
“The truth is, Ye has nothing to do with Donda’s policies, practices, and procedures relating to employee pay and wage statements,” wrote Suhr. “Surely, Plaintiffs know that. But—as unfortunately is commonly the case for Ye, a famous artist and businessperson—in the present action, Plaintiffs have haphazardly tossed a meritless and barebones guilt-by-association theory into their complaint to garner press attention and the resulting settlement pressure that comes with it.”
The filing also states that the former teachers were misleading by depicting Donda Academy as a “dystopian institution.”
“Plaintiffs misleadingly depict the Donda Academy as a dystopian institution designed to satisfy Ye’s idiosyncrasies. None of it is true and the allegations do a disservice to the Donda Academy’s current staff and students and their parents who will attest to their positive experience as this case proceeds.”
Hailey and Byers filed their lawsuit in April and claimed that the school only fed the students sushi, only allowed them to bring water as an outside beverage, allowed bullying plus failed to provide proper training to the teachers for Basic Life Support certification for CPR or automated external defibrillator skills. They also accused West of having odd rules such as the students having to wear black and not being allowed to wear Adidas or Nike. The teachers also accused the school of shorting them on their paychecks and failing to provide proper chairs for the students, instead making them sit on foam cushions or to stand.
Meeks was added to the lawsuit in June, and the former teachers’ attorney Ron Zambrano said that Meeks was terminated months before Byers and Hailey began working at the school and after voicing her concerns about code violations, including exposed electrical wiring and loose baseboards. She also claimed the school had no textbooks.
“Clearly, Ye has a big problem on his hands with this school, and the addition of Ms. Meeks to the complaint only serves to reinforce the nightmarish conditions for staff and students at Donda Academy,” said Zambrano in a statement to NBC News.
“Ms. Meeks was fired months before Cecilia Hailey and Chekarey Byers were terminated but all three clearly witnessed the same illegal and disturbing code violations and conduct at the school, and all three were given the same retaliatory and unlawful treatment merely for trying to stand up for the students’ rights to a meaningful education.”
West also denied in the filing that his students are only fed sushi and that they had no chairs.
