Attorneys for the artist formerly known as Kanye West have asked a District Court judge to allow them to serve their controversial former client with notice that they no longer represent him, after previous attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful.
Law firm Greenberg Traurig (GT), which represented West in a copyright suit over the summer, withdrew its services after the hip-hop entertainer’s incendiary antisemitic comments in the fall of 2022.
“Given GT’s diligent efforts [to] personally serve Ye, good cause exists for the requested extension,” the prestigious legal firm wrote.
Read the entire complaint below.
Greenberg Traurig wants U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres to allow the firm to post advertisements in two metro-area newspapers and send the published announcement to at least two of West’s possible addresses.
Lawyers cite the inability to serve ‘Ye through the traditional use of process servers, and failure to reach their former client to finalize the withdrawal.
The firm also reported that its former client has changed the phone number used to contact the troubled rapper.
“GT also tried to contact Ye directly via the last known cell phone number GT had to arrange for personal service,” Greenberg Traurig wrote in its complaint. “This was also unsuccessful, as Ye has apparently deactivated the phone number previously used to contact him.”
Since West made his unceremonious return to the social media platform Twitter, he received swift and unrelenting backlash for violent comments directed at the Jewish community.
Despite outcry from the public for the rapper to retract his statements and condemn antisemitism, ‘Ye was nowhere near done.
From inviting well-known Holocaust denier, Nick Fuentes, to accompany him to visit former President Donald Trump at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate, to saying he ‘loves Hitler,’ on an episode of the right-wing conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones’ InfoWars podcast – West’s comments set off an antisemitic storm.
Brands associated with the Yeezy clothing line founder began dropping like flies in an attempt to disassociate themselves from the bigoted rhetoric and the increase in violence inspired by West’s statements.
West’s actions, including a recent bizarre marriage to a Kim Kardashian-lookalike and Yeezy designer, have put him on the outs with mainstream society, and those wishing not to be associated with an antisemitic bigot.
For the firm Greenberg Traurig, it was a bridge too far.
Read GT’s court request here.
Original reporting by Zach Schonfeld at The Hill.
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