Kanye West Facing $1M Class-Action Lawsuits Over Treatment Of Workers At His Nebuchadnezzar Opera
Last November, Kanye West staged a gospel opera called Nebuchadnezzar at the Hollywood Bowl. The show, which West only announced about a week ahead of time, purported to tell the story of the Old Testament Babylonian king of the title. West narrated the story himself, Sheck Wes played the title character, and West’s Sunday Service choir was also featured. The opera streamed on Tidal, and critics hated it. Now, West is reportedly facing two different class action lawsuits from performers and behind-the-scenes workers on Nebuchadnezzar.
Vice reports that Nebuchadnezzar crew members — makeup artists, hairdressers, costume designers — filed the first lawsuit in July, and performers filed the second in August. Both lawsuits allege the same thing: West violated California labor law by classifying the people who worked on the opera as independent contractors, rather than employees. He also allegedly underpaid the workers, denied them meal and rest breaks, and took months to pay them.
According to California law, workers are classified as employees if their employers tell them when to work and supervise them. They’re also considered employees if the workers are doing tasks that are within their regular lines of work. By making the workers work extra time without giving them overtime pay and by denying them breaks, West allegedly failed to give the workers everything that’s required of him. And since the workers are claiming that West took months to pay them, those workers might be eligible for huge waiting-time penalties.
Vice talked to a few legal experts who believe that the lawsuit will be settled out of court and that West will likely have to pay out about a million dollars. We know he can afford it.