The rapper has gone MIA on his court case against Ivanhoe’s College Dropout Burgers.
For a country that’s a whole ocean away from the land where hip-hop originated, we sure seem to have a lot of hip-hop themed restaurants. The controversial trend seemed to leave a bad taste in the mouth of one Mr Kanye West, who filed a lawsuit against College Dropout Burgers in Ivanhoe in early 2022.
Ye accused restaurant owner and superfan Mark Elkhouri of using the name of his seminal debut album without his permission. Elkhouri was hit with multiple cease and desist letters regarding a mural of the artist that was painted in the shop, the Ye-inspired Gold Digger burger on the menu, and the teddy bear signage out front that resembled a motif on the Graduation album cover.
Kanye sues College Dropout Burgers
- The superstar accused the restaurant of using his IP without his consent
- After filing a federal court case against College Dropout Burgers, Ye has gone dark
- Owner Mark Elkhouri says he is a Kanye fan who created the joint to pay tribute to his favourite artist
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But it seems the mega-celeb has turned down the heat in the court case against Elkhouri. As reported by The Age, the rapper has not taken any serious steps in moving this case forward since he initiated it last year. He has been unreachable by Elkhouri’s team, who had tried to secure legal costs before the case began.
“The applicant has taken a single substantive step – to commence the proceeding – but nothing since then,” said lawyer Craig Smith to Justice Shaun McElwaine during the latest court hearing.
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Perhaps the rapper’s silence comes because he’s too busy shacking up with his new Melbournian bae, or perhaps it’s because he is currently unrepresented after his usual lawyers jumped ship following his recent anti-semitic tirades.
It could also be because he’s neck-deep in other legal trouble that’s a little more pressing than the decor inside a suburban burger shop.
Whatever the reason, it seems like College Dropout Burgers is in the clear – for now at least. A college dropout himself, Elkhouri has now altered the menu to remove any obvious signs of Ye and pay tribute to some of the most celebrated dropouts of our time, with burgers inspired by Prince, Steve Jobs and Brad Pitt. The mural has been covered and the sign has been blacked out with a sticker that says “Insert logo here. OK BYE THANKS”.
Unless Ye switches up (which he has a reputation for doing), the fast food joint should be able to continue serving up those juicy dropout burgs to all the hungry folks of the northeast.
For more on the Kanye burger drama, head here.
