Last week, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West recently made an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast and made bold statements that even if he continues to publicly say “anti-semitic things”, adidas won’t cut ties with him.
However, adidas has finally responded by “terminating its relationship with Kanye West”.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”
So what does this mean for YEEZY products?
Furthermore, adidas said it will end the production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.
“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.”
In recent weeks, Ye made public appearances and interviews in which he spouted anti-Semitic comments and conspiracy theories, criticized Black Lives Matter, ended business relationships and was blocked on social media platforms—leading to widespread criticism.
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.
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