Adidas boots Ye over antisemitism

Adidas boots Ye over his antisemitism remarks. The Company announced that it does not “tolerate any kind of hate speech.”

The Company’s Yeezy collaboration with Kanye West was already under review after the latter wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at the Paris Fashion Week.

Days after the viral stunt, Ye posted an antisemitic tweet.

As Adidas has severed its ties with Ye, the Company is now set to suffer “short-term” losses of up to $250 million. Kanye’s products have been pulled from both physical and online stores.

The clothing giant declared that it will not make any payments to Ye or his companies with immediate effect.

In a Press Release, Adidas stated that the Company does not “tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”

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, the company has 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.

This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.  

adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. More information will be given as part of the company’s upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on November 9, 2022.

The Company said in its Press Release.

Ye’s isolation has been growing since his tweet. It started with Instagram and Twitter suspending his account and his business deals also started to come to an end.

Adidas has claimed that the partnership with Ye came under review not because of the “White Lives Matter” Tee but his regular outbursts against the Company for “stealing” his designs.

Since the cancelation of his business deals, Ye’s billionaire spot in Forbes magazine has been lost. Forbes now believes Ye’s net worth to be around $400 million after losing his Adidas deal.

It isn’t clear if Ye will take legal action against the clothing giant. Adidas was facing severe backlash for its “inaction” after Ye’s antisemitic remarks.