This week, Adidas began to sell their remaining stock of Yeezy apparel they have left over from their late 2022 break-up with Kanye West. Although West is set to receive a percentage of the profits from these sales, while the rest will go to charity, he is still facing another challenge in his already-tumultuous 2023.
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On Thursday (June 1), paparazzo photographer Nichol Lechmanik filed a lawsuit against West for assault, battery, and negligence. The suit stems from a January encounter Lechmanik and West had, where the former was filming the latter on her smartphone as he was walking with his new wife Bianca Censori.
West reacted angrily to Lechmanik recording him and went over to her while she was sitting in her car at a stop light. West yelled phrases like “You all ain’t gonna run up on me like that!” and “If I say stop, stop with your cameras.” Then, he reached into her window, grabbed her phone, and threw it into traffic. A video that Lechmanik’s passenger took during the face-off went viral at the time. Check out the clip below.
Immediately following this, Lechmanik filed a criminal police report against West. But in March, he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Now, though, Lechmanik is hoping to be compensated for alleged damages West caused during the debacle.
In the suit obtained by TMZ, Lechmanik said she was terrified at the moment and thought West could have been armed. She added that West’s actions kept her from returning to work as a paparazzo, hurting her income. She is requesting an injunction from the court that forbids West from touching, confronting, or threatening any photographers.
Thursday’s suit comes just after West was hit with a $2 million lawsuit from Gap in May, as well as a separate lawsuit in early April from former teachers at his Donda Academy in California.
Coincidentally, Thursday also served as the five-year anniversary of West’s 2018 studio album Ye. Additionally, the suit follows Wednesday’s release of Fivio Foreign’s song “Concussion,” featuring West, which is his first release of the year.
Photo by Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
