26 Oct 2022 update:
Casual clothing company Gap and sports shoe retailer Foot Locker have also turned their backs on music artist Kanye West, whose business and popularity have suffered a debacle as a result of recent declarations of antisemitic and racist character.
Gap, which ended its collaboration with the rapper’s Yeezy brand in August, said it was removing “YeezyGap products” from its stores and shutting down the line’s website in retaliation against its former partner, calling “anti-Semitism, racism and hatred in any form” something “inexcusable.”
Foot Locker yesterday announced the withdrawal of Yeezy shoes from its shelves and its website, adding it would not sell the brand’s new products, saying “it does not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism or hateful and discriminatory behaviour.”
Other companies that have decided to distance themselves from West include luxury clothing company Balenciaga, Vogue magazine, the CAA representation agency, The RealReal trading platform and the MRC production studio.
BERLIN, 25 Oct 2022:
German sportswear brand Adidas today said it was ending its partnership with Kanye West over the US rapper’s controversial antisemitic remarks.
“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,” the company said in a statement.
Adidas announced it would discontinue the production of Yeezy products with immediate effect – a move that could result in a hit of as much as €250 million to net income in the current fiscal year.
In an interview on the Drink Champs podcast last week, West claimed that George Floyd — an African American who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020 — died of drug use.
An autopsy and court ruling concluded Floyd had died of suffocation caused by officer Derek Chauvin.
During a recent Paris fashion show, West sported a t-shirt with the words ‘White Lives Matter’ — a slogan often used by white supremacists in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Twitter and Instagram recently both blocked West’s accounts after a large number of users reported a string of antisemitic comments.
In one post, West criticised Jared Kushner — former US president Donald Trump’s son in law — saying he just wanted to make money.
“I don’t know … I just think that that’s what they’re about is making money. I don’t think that they have the ability to make anything on their own. I think they were born into money,” he said of Kushner, who is also Jewish.
– EFE