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Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Antisemitism: Adidas joins list of companies to cut ties with Kanye West 

Antisemitic comments made online can lead to prosecution in Germany and companies like Adidas, with ties to the Nazi era, are expected to act to prevent the return of such sentiment.

• October 25, 2022
Adidas, Kanye West

German sportswear giant Adidas has joined the list of companies to sever ties with international rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West, following the celebrity’s antisemitic remarks on popular podcast.

Adidas, whose decade-long partnership with Yeezy (Ye’s company) encompassed clothing and sneakers that made up one of the largest sources of the rapper’s wealth, announced on Tuesday, October 25, that it would officially be ending one of the most significant corporate fashion partnerships in history after Kanye made a series of antisemitic remarks and also publicly embraced a white supremacist slogan.

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement. “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.” 

Making it clear that the termination was effective immediately, the German-based company, said it was ending all production of Yeezy branded products and would stop payments to Kanye and his companies, a move that will subtract up to $246 million from the company’s profit this year.

Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, had called for Adidas to cut ties with Kanye, saying: “The historical responsibility of Adidas lays not only in the German roots of the company, but also in its entanglement with the Nazi regime. I simply expect such a company to take a strict position regarding antisemitism”

Antisemitic statements made online can lead to prosecution in Germany and companies with ties to the Nazi era are expected to act to prevent the return of such sentiment.

Kanye’s partnership with Balenciaga and Gap was also abruptly terminated in October and September respectively, following his controversial comments on “Drink Champs” podcast on October (an episode that has since been pulled off for its false and hurtful comments), where he falsely claimed that George Floyd was not murdered by the police, but rather died from Fentanyl usage, and made antisemitic remarks against Jews. 

Kanye, who was also booted from Instagram and Twitter, after his antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews shortly after, including posting on Twitter that he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” began negotiations to buy social media platform Parler, popularly used by conservatives, especially former U.S. president Donald Trump’s supporters as an alternative to Twitter. 

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Kanye said.

Also spotted rocking a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt during his YZYSZN9 Paris Fashion Week show which has been classified as hate speech, as part of his rejection of the corporate world, Kanye plans to open his own retail stores, a creation of what he has reportedly called the “Yecosystem”. 

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