By Linda Ximba
Adidas has caved into pressure from the public and cut ties with Ye, the US rapper formerly known as Kanye West, following a spate of antisemitic outbursts.
The German sportswear giant announced on Tuesday that it will no longer work with the highly erratic artist to manufacture clothes from his massively popular Yeezy brand.
Seven years ago, Adidas went into partnership with Ye and soon afterwards produced the globally recognisable sneaker, Yeezys.
But Ye’s behaviour in recent weeks has forced the sportswear brand’s hand, bringing an end to their billion-dollar marriage.
Earlier this month he tweeted he was “going death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE”. He later rejected accusations of antisemitism on the grounds that “black people are actually Jew also”.
Since then he has made several more problematic remarks, and companies duly responded by distancing themselves from him. Even the distributors of a completed documentary about him shelved the feature film indefinitely.
Despite immense public pressure, Adidas was reluctant to part company with him.
Last weekend, however, the company was left with no choice when a banner reading “Kanye West was right about Jews” was hung over the side of a bridge on a Los Angeles freeway.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a 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.”
West’s sneaker and apparel business with Adidas AG and Gap was recently valued at between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG, according to a private document reviewed by Bloomberg.
Pictured above: Kanye West
Image source: @NBCNews
