Judge keeps Holocaust references in Alice Merton sampling case against Ye
A judge on Thursday, Oct. 8, refused to strip references to the Holocaust and antisemitism from German singer-songwriter Alice Merton's copyright lawsuit against Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha denied Ye's motion to strike those passages from the complaint. The ruling means the case will go forward with Merton's full account of why she refused to let Ye use her music intact, according to Billboard.
Merton filed the lawsuit in 2025. She claims Ye's 2024 track "Gun to My Head" uses a sample from her song "Blindside" without permission. A sample, where a section of one recording is reused in another song, normally requires clearance from the rights holders.
The complaint alleges Ye's team sought that clearance months earlier and Merton expressly said no. Despite the refusal, the track later appeared with the sample on a digital deluxe version of Vultures 2.
Merton says she denied the request because she is a direct descendant of Holocaust survivors and did not want to be associated with Ye's past antisemitic remarks. She has also said the decision rested on his history of antisemitic and racist remarks, as reported at the time by Variety.
Ye's lawyers asked the court to remove those references. They argued the material about the Holocaust and antisemitism was "immaterial, impertinent and scandalous" and should not remain in a dispute about unauthorised use of music.
The judge disagreed. He found the allegations about Merton's family background and Ye's alleged remarks were not unduly prejudicial and may bear on the litigation, including by explaining the plaintiffs' rationale for denying use of the song.
Judge Aenlle-Rocha also refused a second request from Ye to remove references to his prior copyright infringement lawsuits from the complaint. That history will therefore stay in the court record for now.
The case will now move through evidence discovery, the pre-trial process in which both sides exchange documents and testimony. A jury trial is set to begin in March unless the parties reach a settlement.
In a separate matter in May, a jury found Ye liable for infringing an instrumental track used on an early version of his 2021 album Donda.
