Kanye West Hit With New Lawsuit

Kanye West, the rapper now known as Ye, has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit after a German singer refused to be associated with him.

On March 25, two German corporations and singer Alice Merton filed a lawsuit against the “808s and Heartbreaks” rapper for “unauthorized commercial exploitation of the musical composition ‘Blindside.‘“

The lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE Magazine, as well as Merton, MERTON & GRAUWINKEL GMBH and PAPER PLANE PUBLISHING GMBH, claims that the corporations own the rights to Ye’s song “Gun to My Head” and that the 47-year-old rapper “willfully engaged in the infringement of copyright with the composition of ‘Gun to the Head’ which contains an unauthorized sample” of “Blindside.”

In 2023, Ye released “Gun to My Head” with Kid Cudi and Ty Dolla $ign and “the public became aware that it contained an unauthorized sample” of “Blindside,” per the court filing.

After the song’s release, Ye allegedly sent a request to BMG for sample approval. The request was denied after the corporation responded to say that the “artist’s values are contrary to our values.”

“Alice Merton was unwilling to compromise her personal beliefs and wanted not to be associated with [West] in any manner.” the filing states. “Of significant concern to plaintiff Merton, were defendant [West’s] antisemitic, racist remarks which were made publicly and continue to be made publicly … Merton is a German resident who has close ties to the Holocaust through Jewish family members who survived horrors and as such feels closely connected to it.”

The legal filing went on to state that Merton had faced “threats” after not clearing the sample and that fans of the rapper were “relentless.”

“In addition to the negative association with [West] that plaintiffs were trying to avoid, plaintiff Merton began receiving death threats and abuse from defendants’ fan base online because she would not clear the sample. Defendant did nothing to stop the abuse, allowing his fans to intimidate and harass plaintiff Merton and failing to acknowledge that plaintiffs had rejected defendant’s request to use plaintiff’s song,” the filing states.

Recently, the rapper also made headlines for calling out fellow rapper Playboi Carti for not including him on his smash-hit #1 album I AM MUSIC. After a fan asked him on X to “end” Carti’s career, he said “I will and I am going to.”