Adidas has ended its partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and anti-Semitic comments, the latest company to cut ties with Ye and a decision the German sportswear company said would reach its line background.
“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
The company faced pressure to cut ties with Ye, with celebrities and others on social media urging Adidas to act. She said earlier this month that she was putting her lucrative sneaker deal with the rapper under review.
Adidas said Tuesday that it conducted a “thorough review” and would immediately halt production of its Yeezy product line and halt payments to Ye and his companies. The sportswear company said it expected an impact of up to 250 million euros ($246 million) to its net income from the move this year. The company is the sole owner of the Yeezy design rights, Adidas said.
Adidas’ deal with West officially began in 2016, with the company calling it “the most significant partnership ever between an athletic brand and a non-athlete.”
Other companies leave Ye
Jewish groups said the decision to drop Ye was late.
“I would have liked a clear position before a German company that was also entangled with the Nazi regime,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of German Jews, the main Jewish group in the country where Adidas is based .
Adidas is just the latest company to end connections with Ye, who has also been suspended from Twitter and Instagram for anti-Semitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.
Earlier this month, Ye tweeted a threat that he would be “dead [sic] con 3″ about Jews, alluding to a defense readiness designation used by the US military. He also posted a screenshot of a text exchange with Sean “Diddy” Combs in which suggested that Combs was controlled by Jews.
West recently suggested slavery was an option and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other controversial comments. He was also criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection presentation in Paris. The phrase has been adopted and promoted by white supremacist groups and sympathizers, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Ye’s talent agency, CAA, dropped him, and studio MRC announced on Monday that it is putting together a full-length documentary about him. Ari Emmanuel, chief executive of talent firm Endeavor, wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times last week urging all companies to stop working with Ye because of his anti-Semitism.
Fashion house Balenciaga cut ties with Ye last week, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Foot Locker also said it would stop carrying the Yeezy brand and pull Yeezy shoes from its shelves and online locations. JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship, although the bank breakup was underway even before Ye’s anti-Semitic comments.
“While Adidas was a bit late to cut ties with Kanye West, it has now given in to the inevitable and ended its partnership with the artist,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of the research firm of GlobalData market, in an email. “Given the vileness of Ye’s recent comments, and the fact that his words now provoke anti-Semitism among others, Adidas had no choice but to act to protect its reputation and show customers that it is on the right side of morality”.
A Vogue spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the magazine and its global editorial director, Anna Wintour, have no intention of working with Ye again following her more controversial comments and behavior.
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In recent weeks, Ye has also ended his company’s partnership with Gap and told Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with its corporate suppliers. Gap said Tuesday it will remove all Yeezy Gap products from the retailer’s stores and its e-commerce site.
“Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in line with our values,” the clothing chain said in a statement.
Protesters at a Los Angeles overpass on Saturday unfurled a banner praising Ye’s anti-Semitic comments, sparking an outcry on social media as celebrities and others said they stand with the Jewish people.
In 2021, Bloomberg ranked West as the richest black American, putting his net worth at $6 billion. Morningstar analyst David Swartz told the Washington Post that sales of Yeezy products generated roughly $2 billion a year for Adidas, or nearly 10 percent of its annual revenue.
Adidas shares fell more than 3% in trading on Tuesday and are down 61% this year.
Adidas does not disclose Yeezy sales figures, but the impact will be more severe than expected given that the brand has ended production of all Yeezy products and stopped royalty payments, according to the analyst Morningstar’s David Swartz in a note published on Tuesday.
Swartz expects Adidas’ global revenue to reach 23.2 billion euros ($23.1 billion) this year, with the Yeezy brand generating 1.5 billion to 2 billion euros ($1.99 billion), or nearly 10% of the total The expensive brand accounts for up to 15 percent of the company’s net revenue, Swartz said.