Adidas has terminated its partnership with Ye, ceasing the production of Yeezy branded products, which brought in billions but went sour after the rapper repeated brazen antisemitic remarks.
According to the Washington Post, after avoiding making any comments on the status of the partnership for weeks, the German-based creator of athletic gear broke their silence on Tuesday (Oct 25) by saying in a statement:
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. 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,” the statement added.
Adidas joins other firms, including CAA (Creative Artists Agency), Vogue, Balenciaga, and JPMorgan Chase, to terminate its relationship with the musician/fashion designer.
The move comes weeks after the firm’s directors declared that the firm was reviewing its business deal with Ye and his multibillion-dollar Yeezy brand following the widespread outrage after he rocked a “White Lives Matter”-shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show.
In the following weeks, Ye made antisemitic comments on his social media platforms – triggering suspensions – and continued with more offensive comments against the Jewish community on a podcast.
In that interview, the Donda rapper falsely claimed that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose and that Derek Chauvin’s “knees wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
Ye’s hateful tropes were also referenced over the weekend by a group of LA neo-Nazis who hung antisemitic flyers on a 405 freeway overpass. It read, “Honk if you know Kanye is right about the Jews.”
Ye has significantly impacted Adidas, with Yeezy generating over $2 billion yearly, close to 10% of the firm’s annual revenue, Morningstar David Swartz revealed. Therefore, ending the relationship with Ye is expected to have a “short-term negative impact of almost 250million euros ($246 million) on net income in 2022 due to high seasonality of the fourth quarter.”
Ye kickstarted his relationship with Adidas in 2013, a partnership that made the rapper a billionaire and offered the athletic gear firm a new and extensive customer base.
Ye started airing his issues with Adidas this summer when he accused the firm of stealing his designs and calling out their chief executive Kasper Rorsted by name in a tweet.
The renowned designer then went after the firm again in early October, releasing a 30-minute clip of a meeting with the company’s executives, whom he accused of doing “wrong by the company, by the business, and by the partnership.” He showed the executives a porno film.
Ye also launched into a 10-minute rant about Jews and called out Adidas’s delay in ending the relationship.
“The thing about it being Adidas — I can say antisemitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?”
These comments presented a sensitive challenge for the firm, given Adidas’s history – its founder Adolf Dassler was a member of the Nazi Party and outfitted the Hitler Youth.
And after the hateful flyers and pictures showing men doing the Nazi salute went viral this weekend, various celebrities and renowned personalities called on Adidas to cut ties with the artist.
“@ADIDAS DROP KANYE WEST,” actor and director America Ferrera posted on IG, “this is despicable. do not amplify that man’s influence.”
Ye’s ex, Kim Kardashian, also came out in solidarity with the Jewish community following the antisemitism controversy.
Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) October 24, 2022
Even some of the biggest legal organizations – The Anti-Defamation League, Antisemistism.com, and the International Legal Forum came out in support of the Jewish community and called out Adidas to drop Ye. All three groups applauded the move on Adidas on Tuesday.
Without a doubt, @adidas has done the right thing to #RunAwayFromHate by cutting ties with Ye after his vicious antisemitic rants. In the end, Adidas’ action sends a powerful message that antisemitism & bigotry have NO place in society. My full statement: https://t.co/5OO15W8ElX pic.twitter.com/r3fAYgOhvP
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 25, 2022
? Full ILF Statement on @Adidas decision to terminate partnership with #KanyeWest.
We are proud to have reached out to Adidas leadership and hope the appropriate lessons on need for unwavering response to combating #antisemitism have been learnt. pic.twitter.com/cWhQlMzQ3H
— The International Legal Forum – ILF (@The_ILF) October 25, 2022
Other reactions to the news:
Vicious? Far from it. You guys act like he incited violence when he’s done nothing of the sort.
— natesgeeklounge (@natesgeeklounge) October 25, 2022
and
Jewish subversion has no place in our society.
— Hawkeye (@steadfast83) October 25, 2022
and
Kanye is being cancelled by those he dared to criticise.
— Carl Mumford (@CarlMumford8) October 25, 2022
and
Kanye said that Jews control the black voice.
Does silencing him prove him wrong?
— Critical Thoughts™ (@still_critical) October 25, 2022
and
doesn’t adidas still own the name , image, & likeness of yeezy brand? cus if so ye definitely fucked.
— Paper Route Frank (@juicewashed) October 25, 2022
This is quite sad. What do you think?
Comment below!
