Adidas has officially severed ties with embattled rapper Kanye West.
The sportswear giant and the MC have been in business together for several years and most notably launched the mega-selling Yeezy line.
However, in the wake of Ye’s seemingly unstoppable flow of offensive rhetoric, Adidas has dissolved the partnership.
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As reported, West sparked public outrage when he mocked the Black Lives Matter movement and fuelled further furor when tweeting that he wanted to go “Deadcon 3” on what he deemed Jewish adversaries.
In a later interview with Piers Morgan, West seemingly doubled down on his remarks.
Before then, ranted for days on end about issues with Adidas and flooded social media with pictures of top executives accompanied by derogatory remarks about them and the company at large. Those actions prompted the company to officially deem their pact with West as “under review.”
Moments ago, Adidas issued the following statement confirming they have drawn a definitive line in the sand:
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and 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, [we have 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.”
Admitting that the move (and its suddenness) will have effects, the statement concluded:
“This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million ($246 million) on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarte. Adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership.”
The development comes after CAA, Balenciaga, Vogue, talent reps, and more ended their respecive relationships with West.