The clothing and apparel company Adidas has severed ties with troubled musician and fashion designer Kanye West, who is also known as Ye.
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In a recent video, West seemingly dared Adidas to make the move, saying he could say antisemitic statements and the company couldn’t (or wouldn’t) drop him.
In subsequent days, social media outcry seemed to push the company over the edge and now Adidas and West are no longer in business.
Part of the outcry involved pointing out that Adidas, nearly 100 years ago, had relationships in Germany with the Nazi party. So, sticking with West would be that much more offensive to customers had the retailer not ended their relationship.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a press statement. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
Adidas and West first partnered in 2013, generating billions of dollars with a shoe deal, his Yeezy sneakers. That figure was estimated to be about 10% of the company’s entire revenue.
Previously, however, West accused the company of stealing his designs and he even reportedly tried to intimidate executives by showing them pornography. That came to light in a very strange and disturbing documentary the artist created called, Last Week.
Adidas is one of several big names to drop the rapper. Others include the talent agency CAA and the bank JPMorgan Chase. Anna Wintour of Vogue, too. And lawyer Camile Vasquez, who represented Johnny Depp in his recent defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, cut ties with West after just a few days because he refused to retract his antisemitic statements.
In related news, antisemitic behavior is on the rise, including in areas like Los Angeles, and many are connecting the dots between West’s statements and the events.
Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
