Adidas cuts ties with Kanye West over anti-Semitic remarks

BERLIN

German sportswear giant Adidas said on Oct. 24 it was ending its partnership with Kanye West after a series of anti-Semitic outbursts by the controversial rapper.

Recent comments by West - now known formally as Ye - were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous,” Adidas said in a statement.

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately.”

Adidas said it would “end production” of the highly successful “Yeezy” line designed together with West and “stop all payments to Ye and his companies.”

The abrupt end to the collaboration between the sports outfitter and rapper would slash Adidas’s net income in 2022 by “up to 250 million euros ($246 million)”, the company estimated.

Adidas’s decision to dump the artist was “overdue,” said Josef Schuster of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

“For weeks, West has caused worldwide furor with his anti-Semitic remarks,” Schuster said, adding that the rapper’s comments had become “intolerable.

The artist was associated with rival sportswear company Nike for years but broke away in 2013, lending his name to Adidas as they launched their first Yeezy shoe together in 2015, a partnership that went on to make him a billionaire.

Along with Beyonce, Stella McCartney and Pharrell Williams, West’s has been one of the top names used by Adidas to boost sales, especially online.

Adidas’s announcement was followed later by U.S. company Gap, which said it was taking “immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores” in addition to shutting down YeezyGap.com.

West and Gap had announced in September that they planned to end their partnership, although Gap said at the time it planned to release several co-branded products already in development.

Paris-based fashion house Balenciaga also ended ties with the rapper last week, saying it “no longer has any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”

One of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, CAA, said on Oct. 23 it was dropping West, while film and TV producer MRC said it was shelving an already-finished documentary about the artist.