Adidas gave Kanye West the boot.
The apparel company on Tuesday ended its relationship with the rapper, who goes by the name Ye, following his repeated anti-Semitic comments in interviews and online.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” Adidas said Tuesday. “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.”
Production of West’s popular “Yeezy” collaboration of shoes and clothing is ending “immediately,” says Adidas, which estimates that cutting ties will cost the company about $246 million in net income this year. Payments to West have also been halted, with Adidas saying the decision to end the partnership follows a “thorough review.”
Later Tuesday, the clothing retailer Gap announced it is “taking immediate steps” to remove West’s “Yeezy” products from its stores and said the yeezygap.com website had been taken down. West and Gap ended their two-year partnership last month.
“Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” Gap said Tuesday.
Tuesday’s developments come shortly after the talent agency CAA dropped West as a client amid the recent controversies.
West’s Instagram account was restricted and his Twitter account was temporarily locked this month following posts deemed anti-Semitic, including a tweet in which he threatened to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” that’s since been taken down.
The 24-time Grammy winner sparked further outrage during an interview on the Revolt TV show “Drink Champs,” claiming George Floyd died of the drug fentanyl and speaking about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s former relationship with comedian Pete Davidson.
“On TMZ, I just saw yesterday, they said, ‘Pete Davidson and Kim have sex by the fireplace to honor their grandmother.’ It’s Jewish Zionists that’s about that life, that’s telling this Christian woman that has four Black children to put that out as a message in the media,” West, 45, said on the show.
The luxury fashion house Balenciaga dropped West as a collaborator last week, while the movie studio MRC said in a memo Monday that it won’t release a completed documentary about the rapper.
Adidas faced public pressure to end its partnership with West, including from the Anti-Defamation League, which urged the German company to reconsider the partnership in a letter last week.
“We hope that more companies, individuals, and political leaders will take action to show that there will be consequences for such hateful rhetoric and that they do not give Ye’s anti-Semitism a pass,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, said in the letter.
Kardashian, who has four kids with West, denounced hate speech in a tweet Monday.
“Hate speech is never OK or excusable,” wrote Kardashian, who filed for divorce in 2021 after nearly seven years of marriage. “I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”
Earlier this month, West agreed to acquire the conservative social media platform Parler in a deal expected to close by the end of the year.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” West said.
With News Wire Services
