Ye, the artist formally known as Kanye West, has denied all accusations of wrongdoing brought against him by Gap, his former business partner. According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline on June 23, 2023, Ye is demanding that the company pay his legal fees incurred during their court case and immediately drop the lawsuit against him.
Gap filed against Ye after being sued by Art Center, which owns property in downtown Los Angeles and leased a building to the retailer. As a stipulation of the yearly contract, Art Center required a $104,000 monthly rent and an agreement that the company would not make any alterations to the building without Art Center’s explicit permission. In October 2022, Art Center accused Gap of completing “numerous, significant, unapproved modifications,” thus breaching their contract.
In response, Gap filed a counterclaim against its ex-business partner West, claiming it was he who breached the contract by altering the building, and that under its agreement with West, Gap could not be held liable for lawsuits resulting from Yeezy’s actions.
The suit read, “The performance of the work not only breached the Strategic Agreement, but the manner of preparing for and performing the work caused the need for the repairs and restoration alleged in the complaint.”
In response, Ye adamantly denied responsibility for any of it, claiming, “Gap’s claims fail because the June 25, 2020, Strategic Agreement between Gap and Yeezy Supply (Strategic Agreement”) is invalid or voidable.”
The Donda rapper continued to call Gap out for failing to fill its contractual obligations with him while they were partnered.
“Many of the modifications complained of were, in fact, beneficial to the Premises, and all were carried out for the benefit of the Strategic Agreement with Gap,” read his statement. “Gap must have anticipated that modifications such as were made to the Premises are typical for this type of business. If anything, the property was improved by Cross-Defendants such as building an ADA ramp.”
According to Radar Online, Ye was certain he never would’ve partnered with Gap in the first place if he had been aware that it had “[signed] a lease requiring no modifications to the property used for a pop-up store.”
He reiterated that he shouldn’t be held financially liable for any of the nearly $2 million in damages that Gap owes Art Center.
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