LONDON (AP) — Adidas has ended its partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and antisemitic remarks, the latest company to cut ties with Ye and a decision that the German sportwear company said would hit its bottom line.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “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 company faced pressure to cut ties with Ye, with celebrities and others on social media urging Adidas to act. It said at the beginning of the month that it was placing its lucrative sneaker deal with the rapper under review.
Adidas said Tuesday that it conducted a “thorough review” and would immediately stop production of its line of Yeezy products and stop payments to Ye and his companies. The sportswear company said it was expected to take a hit of up to 250 million euros ($246 million) to its net income this year from the move.
The move by Adidas, whose CEO Kasper Rorsted is stepping down next year, comes after Ye was suspended from Twitter and Instagram this month over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.
He recently suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other comments. He also was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection show in Paris.
Ye’s talent agency, CAA, has dropped him, and the MRC studio announced Monday that it is shelving a complete documentary about the rapper.
The Balenciaga fashion house cut ties with Ye last week, according to Women’s Wear Daily. JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship, although the banking breakup was in the works even before Ye’s antisemitic comments.
In recent weeks, Ye also has ended his company’s association with Gap and has told Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with his corporate suppliers.
After he was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, Ye offered to buy conservative social network Parler.
Demonstrators on a Los Angeles overpass Saturday unfurled a banner praising Ye’s antisemitic comments, prompting an outcry on social media from celebrities and others who said they stand with Jewish people.
In Germany, where Adidas is headquartered, the head of the country’s main Jewish group welcomed the company’s decision but said the “step was overdue.”
“I would have liked a clear stance earlier from a German company that also was entangled with the Nazi regime,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement. “Adidas has done a lot to distance itself from its past and, like many sports brands, is one of those companies that conduct big campaigns against antisemitism and racism. That’s why an earlier separation from Kanye West would have been appropriate.”
Good riddance to that POS animal.
Soon he’ll be crying that his loss is the fault of the Jews.
I was defending this fellow as I thought he was being attacked for being a trump supporter and conservative. But after he kept shooting off his mouth he is nothjng but a two bit huckster Jew hater. Mentally I’ll perhaps but a Farrakhan like Jew hater no doubt. Rot in H-ll. This one hurts though, adidas is a big account ( also founded by Nazi party members )
Hope this doesn’t backfire….
This is what’s positive about his views – he’s quite on the mark about the c19 shot dangers.
Not so terrible.
Editor! Please correct typo! It’s Kanye, not Kayne.
When even the Nazi founded company
Kanye is a dangerous type of anti-Semite, he holds many conservative beliefs yet harbors idiotic notions about Jews. As a Trump supporter, he is considered a right winger but he doesn’t fit neatly into any one box
Better late than never, Adidas!
This antasemit has a huge following. He parrots Qanon Jew-hating conspiracy garbage. Those “theories” are now normal in about 1/2 of America. Go one rightist social media. He is now considered a “martyr” of the right.
The issue here is that had he been a liberal herd thinker they would have protected him. I liked him in the beginning. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But he’s a straight forward anti semite like many of his brahvers. Are we engaging in a bad type of cancel culture?
does anyone really care what this piece of trash says except the liberal media?
Yes this is why we need cancel culture!
Although I think he’s a huge anti smite and we’d be happy that addidas and many others are canceling there connections with kanye. I think its a very dangerous time for jews right now to be in the center of attention this can bring on much more anti Semitism plus it shows us how the right hates us just as the left