It looks like Kanye West is taking a page out of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's business handbook, and it looking to start “his own range of whiskey.”
via: Radar Online
But he's reeling again after being hit with a new drink spiking and sexual assault lawsuit which could sour his plan, RadarOnline can reveal.
The hip-hop legend is furious after his finances dipped and he was ejected from the billionaires' club.
Now he's hanging his hat on raking in the cash once more with a new venture he hopes will become a global-selling liquor brand.
But the booze plan comes at the time Kanye has been hit with serious allegations of sexual assault by his former assistant, Lauren Pisciotta.
According to an updated lawsuit filed by Pisciotta this month, West allegedly drugged and raped her during a party hosted by Sean 'P Diddy' Combs.
Pisciotta, a former OnlyFans star, first sued West in June 2024, accusing him of stalking and sexual harassment. In her latest court filing, Pisciotta claims West escalated his misconduct by sexually assaulting her after giving her a spiked drink at a high-profile party in 2021.
She alleges that West pressured everyone at the event to drink and, after taking a few sips, she became disoriented and lost control of her body.
The lawsuit details how Pisciotta struggled to recall the events of that night but remembers feeling "less in control of her body and speech."
Pisciotta later confronted West, who allegedly confessed to drugging her, laughing when she told him she had no memory of the assault. Kanye has been the author of his own financial woes in recent times.
His antisemitic remarks and the decision by Adidas to end its deal with West's Yeezy brand slashed his net worth by around $1 billion, according to business bible Forbes.
The singer and entrepreneur has now lodged papers with trademark officials in the US to ringfence the name Villadram - seemingly a nod to the traditional measure of scotch.
His team at his Ox Paha Inc HQ has applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to be allowed sole rights to market the grog using Villadram and the application is being mulled over by attorneys at the government department before the application is made law.
Kanye also wants to flog rappers' favorite drinks cognac and brandy, plus vodka, gin, champers and even cider.
Other drinks in the application include: "Mead, ouzo, port wines, alcoholic punch, rum, sake, sangria, schnapps, sherry, distilled blue agave liquor, vermouth, vodka, wine, wine coolers, wine punches.
"Calculations of the rapper's wealth have long been muddled by his own exaggerations, but Forbes eventually declared him a billionaire in 2020.
He's now lost the long-sought title, but is still worth a healthy $407 million, per Forbes, which ranks in the top 3,000 richest people in the world.
And he hopes to be soon toasting new-found success with his alcohol line. An intellectual property attorney told us about the importance of trademarks toward off bootleggers.
He revealed: "This will give Kanye and his advisors the ability to take action against third parties who may be using the relevant wordmark in the course of trade without consent.
"The mere presence of these kinds of trademarks on the register can also act as a deterrent, where a third party is considering using a name or image without the owner’s consent.
“Secondly, it improves his ability to enter into agreements to commercialize the personal brand with other firms."
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