Adidas drops partnership with Kanye West over anti-Semitic hate speech
Adidas has cut ties with rapper Kanye West, or Ye, after his espousal of anti-Semitic comments on Twitter and outrageous interview on the matter.
In an interview a few days ago, Kanye said, “I can say anti-Semitic sh*t and Adidas can’t drop me. I can say anti-Semitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?”
In response, Adidas pulled all products in Kanye’s Yeezy x Adidas collection with immediate effect and ended their partnership with the rapper.
The world-famous sportswear brand made a statement last night…
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism or any other sort of 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.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
The brand said it will make a yearly net loss of 250 million euros by cutting ties with Kanye. Apparently, Kanye will no longer have billionaire status as a result of the terminated partnership.
Kanye has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, leading some fans to argue that he is suffering from mental health issues and is not a criminal.
However, being one of the most famous musicians in the world, Kanye is influential whether he is ill or not. Hate speech, including online hate speech, is proven to encourage real-life acts of violence, which is why it cannot be tolerated.
The impact of Kanye’s hateful anti-Semitic comments was exemplified by a group of neo-nazis, who recently hung a huge banner over a highway in Los Angeles which read…
“KANYE IS RIGHT ABOUT THE JEWS”
The neo-nazis held up a nazi-salute, which is a greeting gesture used during the Holocaust to signal obedience to former Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, who was responsible for the systemic genocide of around six million Jews between 1941-45 during World War II. The gesture is illegal in Germany.
Kanye has been in the spotlight for some time, most recently for wearing a “White Lives Matter” at Paris Fashion Week.
Both Instagram and Twitter suspended Kanye’s accounts over his espousals of hate speech, which violate their rules and ethics.
On Tuesday, Gap ended their partnership with Kanye and shut down the YeezyGap website. In a statement, Gap said…
“Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated… We are partnering with organisations that combat hate and discrimination.”
