A former Donda Academy security guard is putting a price on the discrimination case he has been fighting against Ye for more than two years. Benjamin Provo says he could be owed roughly $23 million in damages if a jury finds that he was mistreated and ultimately fired after refusing to cut his dreadlocks.
Provo laid out the potential award in new court documents obtained by TMZ. His lawsuit, originally filed in 2024, accuses Ye and members of his management team of treating Black employees worse than their white counterparts while Provo worked security for Donda Academy and other Yeezy operations.
One central dispute involves Provo’s hair. He alleges that employees were ordered to shave their heads and that he refused because he wore dreadlocks for religious reasons. Provo says he lost his job after declining to comply. Ye has denied firing Provo because of his dreadlocks. His attorneys have also argued that Provo technically worked for a third-party staffing company rather than directly for Ye, a distinction they contend affects his claims.
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Benjamin Provo’s Case Is Headed Toward Trial
However, the hairstyle allegation is only one part of Provo’s complaint. He claims Ye frequently yelled at Black employees while treating white workers differently and alleges that books by prominent Black figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were removed from Donda Academy. Provo has also accused the workplace of fostering a racially hostile environment. Ye has denied wrongdoing.
The case has already produced testimony from former Ye chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos. According to the latest filing, Yiannopoulos said during his deposition that someone with “really thin skin about racially charged remarks” would not have been suited to the company. He also reportedly testified that Yeezy employees during 2023 and 2024 had to accept what he described as Ye’s provocative way of discussing religion.
Both sides have spent recent weeks fighting over what jurors can hear. Ye has asked the court to keep some of his past social media posts praising Hitler and Nazism out of the trial, arguing they are unrelated to whether Provo faced discrimination at work. Provo has sought to use some of that material as evidence of the environment surrounding Ye’s businesses.
The case is currently scheduled to go before a jury in October.
