Adidas Ends Partnership With Kanye West Over Anti-Semitic Comments

Following a string of anti-Semitic comments posted on his Twitter account, Adidas has terminated its partnership with Kanye West....

Following a string of anti-Semitic comments posted on his Twitter account, Adidas has terminated its partnership with Kanye West. The rapper’s partnership with the brand was under review following an incident where he showed a ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, but has now been terminated “with immediate effect,” the brand reveals. 

A statement released by Adidas read:

“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism 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 brand went on to say that following their review, they have elected to immediately “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.”

This is expected to have a short term negative impact of €250m ($390m AUD) on the brand. Further information will be revealed in their upcoming Q3 earnings announcement. 

Following his anti-Semitic remarks and other recent controvieries, Kanye West has had his social media accounts suspended by Instagram and Twitter. A variety of his business partnerships have also been terminated, including his collaboration with Gap. Though the rapper cut ties with the brand in September, merchandise was still available for purchase. 

In a statement released yesterday, Gap Inc revealed:

“Our former partner’s recent remarks and behaviour further underscore why we are taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores and we have shut down YeezyGap.com. Anti-Semitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values.”

Earlier in October, high-end fashion brand Balenciaga announced they cut ties with the rapper. Ye was also reportedly dropped by longtime record label Def Jam, and will no longer be represented by Creative Artists Agency. 

Television production company MRC Entertainment announced earlier this week its documentary on the rapper will not be aired. Their statement read:

“Kanye is a producer and sampler of music. Last week he sampled and remixed a classic tune that has charted for over 3000 years–the lie that Jews are evil and conspire to control the world for their own gain…we feel duty bound to say to all of you that this is a pernicious, terrible use of false logic.”

Ye and his representatives are yet to comment. 

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