Kanye West sued over alleged $7.1m unpaid fees for production company

Kanye West has been sued by a production company alleging that he has not paid $7.1m (£6m), owed for work it completed for the rapper’s concert performances.

Phantom Labs, based in Los Angeles, created the stage set – dubbed The Mound – for the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert in December 2021, where West performed alongside Drake. It also worked on a concert marking the release of the album Donda 2, on West’s Sunday Service gospel and prayer events, and on his cancelled 2022 Coachella performance.

“Despite receiving multiple demand letters from Phantom, defendants continue inexplicably to withhold payment,” the lawsuit states.

In an accompanying statement, a company spokesman said: “We are incredibly proud of the work that we did with Ye and are disappointed that such a fruitful relationship has come to this. A celebrity weaponising fame and reputation to take advantage of eager collaborators is simply unacceptable.”

West, who is now legally named Ye, has not responded to the lawsuit. The Guardian has requested comment via his UK representatives.

Earlier this month, West was served a similar lawsuit from a fashion rental company, the David Casavant Archive, which alleges he has stopped paying rental fees for 13 items that are “rare, esteemed pieces valued for their scarcity and importance in fashion history”. West has not commented on that allegation.

Last month, house music star Marshall Jefferson sued West, alleging that he sampled Jefferson’s track Move Your Body without a licence. In May, the Texas-based Bishop David P Moten also sued West over an uncleared sample, after fragments of a Moten sermon were used on West’s track Come to Life.