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\n\tThe man suing Kanye West<\/a> over injuries allegedly suffered during demolition of a famed Malibu mansion<\/a> testified on Wednesday, Feb. 25, that the rapper, now known as Ye, ordered him to live round-the-clock at the coastal construction site and twice jolted him awake in the middle of the night without warning.<\/p>\n \n\tTony Saxon said that on one occasion, he woke to find Ye towering over his small makeshift bed. Jurors saw a photo of Saxon\u2019s small mattress splayed on a bare concrete floor beside a case of bottled water and some Ensure protein drinks. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe stood over me and asked, \u2018Why are you not working?\u2019\u201d Saxon recalled after being sworn in as the first witness at the civil trial in downtown Los Angeles. \u201cIt was like three or four in the morning. I said, \u2018I have to sleep sometime.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSaxon, 35, said he was unsure how seriously to take the question but recalled that Ye \u201cchuckled\u201d at his response. He testified that the two had developed a friendly rapport, and he continued working for the Grammy-winning artist, who was married to Kim Kardashian at the time, for six weeks beginning in September 2021.<\/p>\n The two men exchanged frequent messages, addressing each other as \u201cbrother\u201d and responding with heart emojis, according to text messages displayed Wednesday on courtroom screens. But Saxon said Ye kept him constantly on edge, demanding photo updates of construction work, scolding him for wearing blue instead of the all-black worker uniform Ye preferred, and suddenly adding 24\/7 security duties to his workload.<\/p>\n \n\tDuring a full day on the witness stand, Saxon walked jurors through pages of text messages filled with photos, updates, and even a budget Saxon authored at one point. He said Ye hired him as a project manager overseeing the aggressive gutting of the contemporary, poured-concrete home designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, which Ye purchased for $57.3 million earlier that same year.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe wanted to turn the home into an open-concept, off-the-grid bunker, with privatized Wi-Fi and renewable energy,\u201d Saxon told the jury of seven women and five men. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to be connected to the city\u2019s power grid or water grid.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSaxon said Ye ordered all wiring and plumbing removed, along with a jacuzzi, chimney, two fire pits, and a \u201cgorgeous\u201d black-marble bathroom veined in white. One \u201cexperimental element,\u201d he said, involved removing all glass and windows. \u201cThe whole house needed to be open, very bare, minimalistic,\u201d he testified.<\/p>\n