The artist formerly known as Kanye West has been sued for more than $400,000 over rented archival pieces, per a new report.
According toBillboard, a complaint filed this week in Los Angeles from the David Casavant Archive accuses Ye of owing thousands in unpaid fees. Additionally, Ye is alleged to have not returned 13 rented pieces. As for the $400K figure, that’s reported to include unpaid fees of $221,810 plus another $195,100 to potentially replace the pieces.
The Casavant Archive is said to point to its previously “good relationship” with Ye and his enterprise in associated legal documents, including an arrangement under which Ye would swiftly pay a replacement fee if he were to “occasionally lose items” he had rented. The 13 items at the center of the complaint are alleged to have been rented by Ye in early 2020 but never returned. Furthermore, the Casavant Archive has claimed, Ye ceased paying rental fees on the pieces that October and subsequent discussions have stalled.
Complex has reached out to a rep for Ye for comment. This post may be updated.
Casavant and Ye’s names have appeared together in the press on a number of occasions over the years. In a 2018 interview with Office magazine in support of the David Casavant Archive book, for example, Casavant shouted out Ye when asked to name a “major fashion icon” whose style he admired.
“Yeah, I mean, where do I start…Carine Roitfeld—I used to work for her—and right now I’m really into Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” he said at the time. “But as far as a male from our time, it would definitely be Kanye, because he’s one of the the only male celebrities that’s willing to take risks—not the only one—but he’s really at the forefront of pushing boundaries in men’s fashion.”
