Adidas drops Kanye West after his anti-Semitic outbursts
Adidas severed ties with Kanye West on Tuesday after facing mounting pressure to do so in the wake of the rapper’s bizarre anti-Semitic outbursts and public meltdowns.
The apparel brand, who announced last week their 10-year
relationship with West was “under review,” said that it “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 company said in a statement
Tuesday.
Adidas is the latest high-profile brand, including
Balenciaga and Vogue, to cut ties or reconsider their relationships with the
rapper-turned-designer following his slew of controversial remarks in recent
weeks.
The shoemaker’s decision came after they faced heavy
backlash for staying silent when the outrage against West first erupted.
Some accused the retailer of putting profits over ethics for
not publicly condemning the 45-year-old’s string of anti-Semitic tweets.
The #boycottadidas hashtag also started trending at one
point.
West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, has been
releasing his Yeezy sneaker lines with Adidas since 2015.
Upcoming Yeezy collections, which are set to retail between
$200-$300, are already scheduled to drop later this year.
Ending the partnership and the production of Yeezy branded
products, as well as stopping all payments to Ye and his companies will “have a
short-term negative impact” of up to $250 million” on Adidas’ net income this
year, the company told Reuters, partially as the Christmas quarter usually
spawns greater demand.
West had addressed the possibility of Adidas dropping him
ahead of the official announcement, telling TMZ over the weekend that the brand
is “going through legal right now so anything can happen.”
Elsewhere in that interview, the father-of-four was adamant
he didn’t think he would be canceled — despite being dropped by the big-name
brands.
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