German sports brand Adidas has announced the end of its highly lucrative partnership with Kanye West, following mounting pressure from the public to end the deal over West’s antisemitic and other offensive comments.
In a statement confirming the end of the deal, the brand said that it did not tolerate antisemitism or 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 statement said.
The decision to part ways with the rapper and designer who now goes by the name Ye, is to take immediate effect with Adidas announcing that it will end production of Yeezy-branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.
The ramification is expected to be a shortfall of $246 million in the company’s income for the year, but further details on the financial health of the company will be delivered on Nov. 9.
Earlier this month, Adidas issued a statement announcing that its multibillion-dollar partnership with Ye was under review.
This came after Ye’s repeated posts on social media attacking Adidas executives, and a stunt at Paris Fashion Week, which featured “White Lives Matter” T-shirts during his YZY SZN 9 runway show.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/adeonibada/adidas-yeezy-end-deal-kanye-west-antisemitic