GERMAN sportswear giant Adidas said on Tuesday it was ending its partnership with Kanye West after a series of anti-Semitic outbursts by the controversial rapper.
Recent comments by West – known formally as Ye – were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous”, Adidas said in a statement.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately.”
Adidas said it would “end production” of the highly-successful “Yeezy” line designed together with West and “stop all payments to Ye and his companies”.
The abrupt end to the collaboration between the sportswear brand and rapper would slash Adidas's net income in 2022 by “up to €250 million (about RM1.163 billion)”, it estimated.
Adidas is the latest brand to part ways with West following his recent outbursts. Paris-based fashion house Balenciaga ended ties with the rapper last week, saying it “no longer (has) any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”
On Monday, one of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, CAA, also said it was dropping West, while film and TV producer MRC said it was shelving an already-finished documentary about the artist.
T-shirt statement
Adidas began a review of its relationship with West earlier this month after he appeared at a fashion show in Paris wearing a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter”.
The phrase is a dog whistle to right-wing groups in the United States and a reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Days later he was locked out of Twitter and Instagram for threatening to “Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”.
Comments made by West “violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness”, Adidas said Tuesday.
The artist was associated with Nike for years but broke away in 2013, lending his name to Adidas as they launched their first Yeezy shoe together in 2015 – a partnership that went on to make him a billionaire.
Along with Beyonce, Stella McCartney and Pharrell Williams, West’s has been one of the top names used by Adidas to boost sales, especially online.
Inflammatory remarks
Adidas had come under increasing pressure from rights campaigners and entertainment world figures to stop working with West.
Ari Emanuel, CEO of entertainment agency Endeavor, similarly called on all companies to cut ties with West.
“Those who continue to do business with West are giving his misguided hate an audience,” Emanuel wrote in the Financial Times. “There should be no tolerance anywhere for West’s anti-Semitism.”
West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian appeared to be joining the pile-on, though her tweet did not mention the father of her children by name.
“Hate speech is never OK or excusable,” she wrote on Twitter and Instagram on Monday.
“I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.” – AFP, October 26, 2022
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