Another day, another lawsuit. This time a North Carolina musician named Chase Taylor says he flew out to Wyoming for what he thought was a finished production, and ended up behind a locked door at a high school with a deadline and a whole lot of work.
According to Page Six, Taylor filed a 45-page complaint on Wednesday in North Carolina’s Eastern District. He alleges Ye recruited him for a starring role in what he believed was a completed opera, but when he got to Wyoming he was taken to Cody High School, ushered into the band room and locked inside. The show in question is Nebuchadnezzar, the biblical opera Ye debuted in 2019. According to the suit, Taylor says he learned the truth only after agreeing to come aboard: there was no opera…
Taylor claims he wasn’t just there to sing. He says he was expected to be the lead performer and soloist, compose much of the music, and make the whole thing performance-ready in four days. His lawyers describe Ye’s plans as “built of air,” arguing the team lined up ways to make money off the show without ever preparing the actual opera.
“Defendants locked the door and ordered Taylor to work until the opera was done,” the complaint says. Taylor alleges that to keep him in line, Ye and his people dangled lucrative pay, a producer credit and future work.
The conditions, he says, were rough. The filing describes more than 150 performers facing demanding rehearsals and thin provisions, with musicians sleeping on the floor during breaks. Taylor claims he asked, through West’s producer, for the doors to be unlocked, for enough food and water, and for time off so the musicians could sleep, and that those requests were ignored.
Taylor says he was talked into working at reduced rates after West’s team presented both Nebuchadnezzar and a second opera, Mary, as charitable religious productions. Yet the suit claims attendees were charged for tickets and profits were pocketed. Nearly seven years later, Taylor says he still hasn’t been properly paid.
He also says his creativity didn’t stay in that band room. Taylor alleges his compositions later surfaced in “Telekinesis” and on Vultures 2. He’s asking the court to recognize his copyright ownership and award a share of profits from the songs, plus damages for fraud, false imprisonment and unfair business practices.
Ye has not yet responded to this latest suit.