Kanye West sues insurer for $10 million over canceled tour
Kanye West filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Lloyd's for $10 million, alleging the insurer is refusing to pay claims stemming from the cancellation of his tour following a reported mental breakdown. The 40-year-old rap superstar filed a claim with Lloyd's shortly after cutting short the second leg of his "Saint Pablo Tour" in November and checking himself into a Los Angeles clinic, according to the suit, lodged in Los Angeles federal court.
West says he and his company Very Good Touring Inc. still haven't been paid and that the insurance giant is intentionally stalling. "Nor have they provided anything approaching a coherent explanation about why they have not paid... implying that Kanye's use of marijuana may provide them with a basis to deny the claim and retain the hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums paid by Very Good," the complaint reads. The "Saint Pablo Tour" was set to run through December 31 before the last 21 shows were shelved, but West had taken out insurance in case cancellations were needed, the lawsuit states.
"The stalling is emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay," the suit alleges. West stunned an audience in California in November last year with a lengthy speech in which he said he did not vote but would have backed then Presidentelect Donald Trump as he appreciated the businessman's outspokenness.
West was soon hospitalized after a series of erratic comments on stage, including alleging that his sometime collaborator Jay Z was sending hitmen to kill him and lashing out at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for not paying the rapper's $53 million in debts.
The celebrity news website TMZ said West's doctor feared he had suffered a mental breakdown. The rapper ended up meeting Trump in December, marking the artist's first appearance since his breakdown, with his celebrity wife Kim Kardashian absent. West, a rare artist and even rarer African American celebrity to voice support for Trump, said he went to discuss issues of concern to minorities with the populist leader.