Kanye West asked a Los Angeles judge to postpone the upcoming trial where he is to face off with his ex-employee Tony Saxon, claiming he had a hard time finding a lawyer due to “negative media coverage,” In Touch can exclusively report.

According to court documents obtained by In Touch, on Friday, February 7, Ye, 47, via his lawyer Manoj Shah, asked that the scheduled trial date of February 24 be pushed.

Manoj explained that Tony filed his discrimination lawsuit in September 2023. Ye’s former lawyer, Brian Brumfield, withdrew as Ye’s representation in court in July 2024.

At the time, Brian explained, “[Ye] terminated relationship on 6/21/2024. [Ye] also will not speak to counsel and [Ye] refuses to pay counsel as well.”

Ye’s lawyer said that the rapper “faced extreme hardship and difficulty retaining litigation counsel, due to exceedingly negative media coverage of Defendants.”

Manoj explained that Ye interviewed 8-10 national, regional and local defense litigation firms for representation in this matter, as well as several other active matters currently pending.

“Defendants were unable to retain counsel,” Manoj explained.

As In Touch first reported, Ye recently hired another lawyer named Eduardo Martorell, who has taken over as lead counsel in several pending cases against Ye.

However, Manoj said Eduardo still needs additional time. He said they explained Ye’s “extreme difficulties with retention of trial counsel” to the court at a recent hearing.

Manoj said Ye is prepared to engage Eduardo as his lawyer for this case, and Eduardo is prepared to accept the case, however, “only if this court is able to continue to the trial date, and all related deadlines and cut-off dates.”

Ye and his legal team asked the court to push the trial date to August or “the next available date thereafter.”

Hours after Ye’s lawyer filed the motion, he started ranting on his X account. The musician praised Hitler, made antisemitic remarks, attacked Taylor Swift and made various other controversial statements.

On Sunday evening, Ye’s account was deactivated.

As In Touch previously reported, in the suit, Tony accused Ye of discrimination and retaliation. Tony said he was worked for Ye from September 2021 to November 2021.

His job duties included being a 24/7 security guard for Ye’s former property in Malibu, California. Tony claimed he had to sleep on the floor because no beds were provided to him. In the suit, Tony said he was promised $20,000 per week for his work. Tony said he was fired for refusing to comply with Ye’s demands, which he felt could lead to a fire hazard.

Tony’s lawsuit read, “When [Tony] refused to engage in unlawful conduct or to engage in activity that would further cause him physical injury, Mr. Ye responded: ‘If you don’t do what I say, you’re not going to work for me, I’m not gonna be your friend anymore and you’ll just see me on TV.’ To which [Tony] replied, ‘I don’t watch TV.’ Mr. Ye ended the exchange with ‘Leave.’”

Ye denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the suit.

His former lawyer argued, “Without admitting that any damages were suffered by [Tony], if damages were suffered by [Tony] as alleged in the complaint, those damages were proximately caused by and contributed to by persons and entities other than [Ye]. The liability of [Ye] and any responsible parties, named or unnamed, should be apportioned according to the relative degrees of fault, and the liability of [Ye] should be reduced accordingly.”

As In Touch first reported, Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, was dragged into the legal drama last week. The musician’s ex-employee listed her as a potential witness in an upcoming trial.