Adidas has ended its association with anti-Semitic statements made by American musician and designer Kanye West.
“Following a rigorous examination, the business has chosen to sever its affiliation with Kanye immediately,” the sportswear giant said in a statement. “Halt manufacturing” of the hugely popular “Yeezy” collection created in collaboration with West, as well as “stop all payments to Ye and his firms. The corporation added, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism or any other type of hate speech.”
Ye’s statements were also deemed “unacceptable, nasty, and harmful” by the firm. They also stated that they breached the company’s “values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect, and justice. Adidas recently reviewed its association with Kanye West after the US rap singer sparked outrage by wearing a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt to Paris Fashion Week. When asked why he backed it, he told Fox News, “I do certain things from a sense, like, just channel the energy, it just seems right.”
According to Reuters, the rapper has caused controversy in recent months by publicly terminating significant corporate alliances and through social media rants against other celebrities.
Mr. West’s social media accounts, including Twitter and Instagram, have been limited, and the sites have also removed several of his tweets that fans have decried as antisemitic, including one in which the rapper declared he will soon go “death con 3 on Jewish people.”