After more than nine years of working together, Adidas is breaking off its relationship with Kanye “Ye” West, the man behind the Yeezy brand. This marks the end of one of the most illustrious and successful sneaker collaborations and brings to a close a turbulent few weeks.
Adidas declared on Tuesday that it would end its collaboration with West, who is now known as Ye, as a result of his recent run of abusive and antisemitic comments.
“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.”
One of the most well-known and prosperous black American businessmen in history, Ye (his legal name), is thought to have a net worth of $2 billion.
In recent months, the contentious artist and fashion designer has made a number of remarks and appearances that have been deemed insulting and antisemitic.
In response to demand from the public, the German manufacturer of athletic products declared early this month that it has reviewed its cooperation with Ye. On October 25, the two parties’ formerly solid relationship was abruptly ended.
Due to the strong seasonality in the fourth quarter, Adidas further explained that this would have a short-term negative impact on net income in 2022 of up to $246 million.
Adidas, according to Kanye, has no control over his public outbursts. I may say antisemitic crap and Adidas can’t drop me, he asserted in an interview with the Drink Champs podcast. Many people, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism, urged that Kanye be fired as a result of his comment.
At least three legal organizations and anti-racism organizations have urged Adidas to cancel the partnership.
As a result of the fashion mogul and performer’s string of public outbursts in which he disparaged Jews, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) put pressure on Adidas to sever its relationship with West.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of ADL, wrote to Adidas executives last Thursday to express his disappointment that the athletic wear firm had not yet taken explicit steps to distance itself from West, whose Yeezy line of footwear is produced in collaboration with Adidas.
2013 saw the start of Adidas’ collaboration with West, and in 2016 the two parties agreed to a deal for Adidas to produce and market West’s Yeezy clothing brand both domestically and internationally.
Ye’s talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, Adidas, and JPMorgan Chase announced they would no longer be working with him in recent days.
Sources: WayneDupree, NYpost
