Entertainment
Adidas ‘to end relationship with Kanye West’ following alleged anti-Semitic comments after rapper insisted: ‘They can’t drop me’-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro
Kanye West and Adidas have had a close partnership for the past decade.
Kanye West and Adidas have had a close partnership over the past decade (Picture: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for ADIDAS)
Adidas is reportedly set to end its relationship with Kanye West after he faced controversy following a string of alleged anti-Semitic comments.
The Praise God musician-turned fashion designer has sparked extreme backlash over the last few weeks, following his White Lives Matter T-shirt stunt and alleged anti-Semitic remarks on Instagram.
The rapper is already said to have been dropped by his talent agency, CAA, and by Balenciaga after opening their summer 2023 show earlier this month.
Lawyer Camille Vasquez, who represented Johnny Depp, is also reportedly now not representing West after he hired her.
According to TMZ, Vasquez told her firm, Brown Rudnick, that she would only represent the rapper if he retracted his comments. He reportedly refused and fired the firm.
More recently, people familiar with the matter have reportedly said that Adidas is planning to announce it has cut ties with West.
According to Bloomberg, the sports company may make the announcement as early as today.
It comes after a petition calling for company to part ways with West reached more than 160,000 signatures.
The creator of the petition urged: ‘We, the undersigned, call on Adidas to end its partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, due to his repeated antisemitic outbursts.
West on the runway at the adidas Originals x Kanye West YEEZY SEASON 1 fashion show during New York Fashion Week Fall 2015 (Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for adidas)
‘By continuing to align itself with a public figure who has revealed himself to be a virulent antisemite, Adidas would be demonstrating that it does not care about racism against Jews.’
West and Adidas have been closely connected for more than a decade, with the rapper building his Yeezy brand in partnership with the company.
According to estimates from Wall Street analysts, Yeezy has accounted for up to 8% of Adidas’ total sales.
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During a recent podcast appearance, Kanye claimed: ‘The thing about me and Adidas is, I could literally say antisemitic s**t and they can’t drop me.
‘I could say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?’
The sports brand had earlier come out to say its partnership with Kanye was ‘under review’ after he was seen wearing a ‘white lives matter’ T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week.
It said at the time: ‘After repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.’
Kanye and Adidas
Kanye first teamed with Adidas at the end of 2013 to create the Adidas Yeezy Boosts. They sold out in 10 minutes.
After working with the rapper for the next couple of years on various Yeezy releases, Adidas officially announced a long-term contracted with West in 2016, which saw the Yeezy brand include its own stores and apparel.
West’s then wife, Kim Kardashian, also revealed at the time that her husband had gifted her a contract to be a part-owner of Yeezy.
Over the next few years, Yeezy went from strength to strength, with every release causing major buzz. According to estimates from Wall Street analysts, the brand has accounted for up to 8% of Adidas’ total sales.
He showed off his products at fashion shows, which caused a huge amount of hype – but none more so than when he faced backlash this year for wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt.
Following the stunt, Adidas announced that the pair’s partnership was ‘under review’.
Kanye had doubled down on his comments, before apologising for causing upset, during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored last week.
The presenter was questioned on whether he regretted threatening to go ‘Defcon 3 on Jewish people’ in a post which saw him locked out of both Twitter and Instagram.
At first, West doubled down on his comments, declaring: ‘No, absolutely not’.
When Morgan asked if he knew the comments were racist, he said: ‘Yes, that’s why I said it… I fought fire with fire. I’m not here to get hosed down.’
A short while later, however, he offered an apology, stating: ‘I will say, I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the Defcon… the confusion that I caused.
‘I feel like I caused hurt and confusion and I’m sorry for the families that had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through.
‘Hurt people hurt people – and I was hurt.’
A string of celebrities have also spoken out to condemn Kanye’s comments, with his ex-wife and mother of his four children, Kim Kardashian, being the latest to share a statement.
She wrote on Twitter on Monday: ‘Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for Kanye West, Adidas, and Brown Rudnick for comment.
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MORE : Kanye West ‘dropped by talent agency’ as companies cut ties with him after antisemitic comments
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