Rapper Kanye West, now legally known as Ye, lost his partnership with Adidas, the producers of his iconic Yeezy sneakers. Adidas’ announcement dropping its partnership with West comes after the celebrity promoted antisemitic rhetoric on his social media, showing clear opposition against the Jewish community.
Adidas is now projected to lose around $650 million after cutting ties with West, with $247 million for the rest of 2022 and $400 million for 2023.
West’s most recent racially insensitive declaration follows a long line of public outbursts. The rapper has shown hostility to several fashion icons, political figures, and other celebrities, like Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Hailey Beiber. Other brands such as Balenciaga, MRC Entertainment, Gap, The Creative Artists Agency, and TJ Maxx have likewise cut ties with West.
In October, West was photographed wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at a private Paris Fashion Week show. This slogan has been used by a neo-Nazi group to push its white supremacist agenda and the Anti-Defamation League categorizes it as a “hate slogan.”
A few days later, West posted antisemitic comments on both Instagram and Twitter, which were removed for violating the platforms’ policies. In one tweet, Kanye stated that although he was a little tired, he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” He further tried explained that he “can’t be antisemitic because black people are actually Jews also.” Before publishing this tweet, West decided to go after P-Diddy (Sean Combs), claiming he was influenced by the Jewish people.
On Oct. 26, West was escorted out of the Skechers corporate offices after showing up unannounced and filming “after a brief conversation.” The company then released a statement claiming they condemn his comments and have no tolerance for any hate speech.
While West’s hurtful speech has shown him a lot of attention, his Instagram account is now restricted and his Twitter locked.
Ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, was one of the many celebrities to comment and stand up against West, saying that she was “utterly disgusted” but not surprised by his choice of clothing. As for his antisemitic comments, Kardashian explained that “hate speech is never OK or excusable” and that she “stands with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”
Every company under the Kardashian name has also released statements condemning West’s actions, removing themselves from their association with him. Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, commented on the escalating situation with a tweet, “We condemn this weekend’s anti-Semitic incidents. Jewish Angelenos should always feel safe…We will never back down from the fight to expose and eliminate it.”
In response to West’s comments, a well-known hate group came together to show their support of West in Los Angeles on the 405 Freeway. The group sported Nazi salutes, raising a banner that read, “Kanye is right about the Jews.” Fliers were also found scattered throughout the city claiming the LGBTQ movement, Biden administration, and gun control laws are controlled by Jewish people.
In addition to losing Adidas, Donda Sports (West’s sporting company) has lost sponsorships from athletes Jaylen Brown and Aaron Donald. West is officially no longer a billionaire after two years on the Forbes Billionaires list; his partnership with Adidas was valued to be around $1.5 billion. Now, his net worth is $400 million.
The Independent newspaper recently released an article claiming he wanted to name his 2018 album Hitler, and one of his former executives alleged he was obsessed with Adolf Hitler and used to reminisce about the Nazi Party.
No one knows for sure what’s next for West, but we know for a fact that his obsession for spewing hate is irreconcilable.
