Adidas announced Tuesday that it is ending its partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, after his recent antisemitic comments.
In a statement, the shoe and apparel company said, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies,” the statement continued.
The move will have a “short-term negative impact” of up to nearly $250 million on Adidas’ 2022 net income, the company estimates.
What antisemitic comments did Kanye make?
In a now-deleted tweet earlier this month, West said he was “going death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE,” the Deseret News reported.
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he continued.
Twitter and Instagram then locked West out of his accounts.
West also made antisemitic comments on a recent podcast, where he claimed: “I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me,” according to Axios.
What other companies have dropped Kanye?
Adidas is the latest of several companies to cut ties with West:
- CAA, West’s talent agency has reportedly stopped working with him.
- MRC announced it was shelving a documentary about West.
- Balenciaga publicly cut ties with the rapper last week.
- Vogue said it had “no intention” of working with West in the future.
Kanye’s other recent controversies
The rapper’s recent antisemitism comes after several other recent controversial statements:
- West recently falsely claimed on a podcast that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, leading to the family of Floyd announcing they would sue West for $250 million, as I previously wrote for the Deseret News.
- West wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt with Candace Owens at Paris Fashion Week.
- After being locked out of Twitter and Instagram, West announced that he was buying Parler.