Steve Stanulis once had the job of protecting Kanye West, 43, but now he may be revealing details of some of his private moments in a new documentary. The former bodyguard revealed that he’s been “approached” by “two studios” about making a feature that is being pitched as a real-life “48 Hours” and will focus on the relationship he had with the rapper.
“Two studios approached me,” Steve said, according to Page Six, about the potential projects, which could begin filming as early as next month. “They see this as a 48 Hours for real, or a Lethal Weapon for real. It comes from my mouth, I worked with [Kanye] two separate times.”
Here are five things you should know about Steve and his background with Kanye.
When did Steve work with Kanye?
Steve worked as Kanye’s bodyguard during some of his biggest headline-making moments, including a behind-the-scenes meltdown on Saturday Night Live and his appearances at New York Fashion Week and the Met Gala. He claims many “adventures” took place during his time with him, including a brawl that was allegedly caused by the “Jesus Walks” creator tipsily wandering into a wrong hotel room occupied by an Italian dignitary at the Waldorf Astoria.
“Every day was a new adventure,” Steve told Page Six. “There are a ton of stories I haven’t told.”
Did Steve and Kanye get along?
“I was one of his favorite guys,” Steve said about Kanye’s initial feelings about him. However, things between them eventually went awry and it’s even resulted in legal threats from both sides, including one as recent as last year. Steve called Kanye one of his “least favorite people” to work with because of his “ridiculous rules”, during a 2020 episode of the podcast, The Hollywood Raw. He also called him the “neediest, moodiest, and worst tipper” of any celebrity he worked with and it caused Kanye and his wife Kim Kardashian, 40, whom he separated from in Feb. 2021, to threaten him with a $10 million lawsuit.
The former couple allegedly gave him a cease-and-desist letter that claimed he made “false and defamatory” statements but Steve’s legal team threatened to countersue. “Any efforts undertaken by your clients to enforce any purported ‘confidentiality agreement’ will be met with counterclaims, that will seek significant damages,” a response from Steve’s team allegedly read.
Kanye also threatened Steve with a $30 million lawsuit in 2016 after he slammed him in a UK newspaper. The artist claimed Steve signed a confidentiality agreement but Steve and his team denied this. “This sad, parasitic maniac has violated every basic human tenet of decency with his story of lies,” a rep for Kanye said at the time, according to Page Six. Steve replied with, “He’s trying to bully me with this ridiculous lawsuit.”
What will the documentary include?
“It starts off with $30 million lawsuit, and works backwards, with all the craziness. Why not address the elephant in the room?” Steve told the outlet. “They threatened to sue me two separate times — once back in the day, and then on a podcast this year. It went viral, and they threatened to sue me again for $10 million, and my attorney countered and it just went away.”
“This way nobody has to ask me about this ever again. I swear to you — no matter what I do… somewhere along the line [the job with West] comes up,” he continued before promising that with the film, there will be, “Nothing left to be said. I’m saying it all.”
Steve also says there will be other bodyguards of Kanye’s spilling behind-the-scenes details in the doc, including one who only lasted “five minutes” working for him.
Steve was a police officer before working for Kanye.
He worked for the New York Police Department and was also once a Chippendales dancer.
What is Steve doing now?
Steve hasn’t worked security for years and is now a film director and producer. He’s worked on films such as 5th Borough and Chronical of a Serial Killer but didn’t come up with the idea for the Kanye documentary. “They came to me. I like the fact that I’m not … the director, the producer … the whole thing is going to be 1 hour and 20 minutes in a fun, chronological order,” he said.