Photo Credit: Kanye West by Rodrigo Ferrari / CC by 2.0
The contentious copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the artist formerly known as Kanye West by musician Alice Merton has now been settled, with the terms publicly undisclosed.
Last month, a federal judge rejected a request from Kanye West’s legal team to strike references to his antisemitic statements and behavior from German musician Alice Merton’s copyright infringement lawsuit. Now, that lawsuit has been dismissed, as the parties have evidently worked out a settlement.
Merton sued West in March 2025 with allegations that he used an uncleared sample of her song “Blindside” in his track “Gun to My Head.” She specifically denied clearance due to West’s very well-documented history of antisemitism, as Merton is a descendant of Holocaust survivors.
West, who now goes by Ye, attempted to strike references to his antisemitism—as well as Merton’s family connections to the Holocaust—from the suit, arguing that they had no bearing on the copyright infringement allegations. However, Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha rejected those efforts, ruling that the references are indeed relevant and explain why Merton denied clearance in the first place.
“The court finds that the allegations concerning Merton’s background or Ye’s alleged remarks are not unduly prejudicial and may have some bearing on the litigation, including potentially at trial to explain Plaintiffs’ rationale for denying Defendants’ use of Plaintiffs’ song,” the judge wrote.
Ye has attempted to erase his years of hateful statements and actions by issuing a lengthy full-page apology in The Wall Street Journal, which hasn’t received the reaction he was hoping for. He has repeatedly been denied entry into several countries and venues while attempting to promote his latest album.
However, he has still been allowed to play to massive crowds in a run of stadium shows this year, particularly across the U.S., including SoFi Stadium, Alamodome, and Raymond James Stadium. Outside the country, he has played shows in Türkiye, the Netherlands, Georgia, Spain, and Portugal.
The rapper’s rampant descent into antisemitism seemingly began in 2022, though evidence has suggested that he held some of these views for much longer. Over the last few years, he has engaged in public hate speech both in posts on social media and in interviews. He sold swastika merchandise on his website, praised Hitler, and proclaimed himself a Nazi, something he has since attempted to walk back.
