Kanye West Dropped By Adidas, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, TJ Maxx
In 2016, Adidas announced an “unprecedented new alliance” with Kanye West and his Yeezy brand. At the time, West was already making all kinds of erratic decisions, but his shoes were still selling for crazy amounts of money. For six years, West and Adidas both made a whole lot of money from that partnership, even as West’s public spiral continued. This morning, after weeks of West using every public platform available to him to tell damaging lies and make anti-Semitic statements, Adidas has finally ended that partnership.
As CNN reports, Adidas announced this morning that the company’s relationship with Kanye West is over “with immediate effect.” The company also says that it “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech” and that West’s recent statements are ““unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.” Adidas also says that it has stopped sales and production of all Yeezy products and that it has cut off all payments to West and his companies. As a result, Adidas estimates that its fourth-quarter sales will be down $246 million.
In his recent appearance on NORE’s Drink Champs podcast, an episode that has since been removed, Kanye West said, “I can say anti-Semitic shit, and Adidas cannot drop me.” Apparently, that wasn’t the case. In the past few weeks, the Gap and Balenciaga have also ended their relationships with West. Foot Locker also says it is has “instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites” as has TJ Maxx. Yesterday, West’s booking agents at Creative Artists Agency dropped him as a client, while the movie and TV production studio MRC announced that it had shelved a Kanye West documentary that has already been completed. Also yesterday, Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s ex-wife, tweeted a statement of support of the Jewish community that didn’t mention Kanye by name.
A source has told The New York Times that West and his Def Jam label are “no longer affiliated with Def Jam.” (West’s own deal with the label ended after last year’s Donda.) Fox 11 reports that West’s anti-Semitic comments have already started to have an effect in Los Angeles. Over the weekend, a group of bigots hung a banner over the 405 freeway that said “Kanye West is right about the Jews.”
UPDATE: In further fallout, Kanye’s wax figure has been removed from Madame Tussaud’s, according to BBC, and Peloton says it will not play his music in classes.