Adidas has ended its partnership with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, over his offensive and anti-Semitic comments, the latest company to cut ties with Ye and a decision the German sportswear company said it would hit their bottom line.
“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other type of hate speech,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and 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. Earlier this month she said she was putting her lucrative sneaker deal with the rapper under review.
The last company to cut connections
Adidas said Tuesday that it conducted a “thorough review” and would immediately halt production of its Yeezy product line and halt payments to Ye and his companies. The sportswear company said it expected to take a hit of up to 250 million euros ($338.5 million Canadian) to its net income this year from the move.
Adidas is just the latest company to end connections with Ye, who has also been suspended from Twitter and Instagram for anti-Semitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.
He recently suggested that slavery was an option and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other comments. He was also criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection presentation in Paris.
Left by his agent
Ye’s talent agency, CAA, dropped him, and studio MRC announced on Monday that it is putting together a full-length documentary about him.
Fashion house Balenciaga cut ties with Ye last week, according to Women’s Wear Daily. JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship, although the bank breakup was underway even before Ye’s anti-Semitic comments.
In recent weeks, Ye has also ended his company’s partnership with Gap and told Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with its corporate suppliers.
After being suspended from Twitter and Facebook, Ye offered to buy the conservative social network Parler.
Protesters at a Los Angeles overpass on Saturday unfurled a banner praising Ye’s anti-Semitic comments, sparking an outcry on social media as celebrities and others said they stand with the Jewish people.
LISTEN | Kanye West’s move on social media:
7:39 Toronto culture critic Stacy Lee Kong has something to say about Kanye West’s latest social media move
Rapper Kanye West is blocked from Twitter and Instagram. Now it has proposed buying Parler, the social media platform popular among American conservatives. Stacy Lee Kong is a writer, editor and cultural critic based in Toronto. She is the founder of Friday Things, a weekly pop culture newsletter. He spoke with guest host Eli Glasner about Kanye’s latest move.