Kanye West, Adidas and his long list of controversies: A look at the past

On Tuesday, Adidas announced that it would cut ties with American pop star Kanye West, also called Ye, following his antisemitic remarks. This puts an end to a decade-long partnership, which was worth close to $100 million to Ye. It is expected to cost Adidas around $246 million in 2022.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

West has been under fire for over a month for his antisemitic and other provocative remarks.

At the YZYSN9 Paris Fashion Week Show, Ye wore a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter”. The Anti-Defamation League has identified the slogan as “hate speech”. According to the New York Times (NYT), the slogan has been adopted by the white supremacist movement.

Shortly after the show, West made antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews. This included a Twitter post saying he would go “death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.”

West has also made several other controversial remarks recently, including suggestions slavery was “a choice” and calling the Covid-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast”.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sound like a choice,” he had said during an appearance on the TMZ Live show.

With Adidas, Ye launched the “Yeezy” shoe brand in 2015. The sneakers are considered to be among the most coveted in the world. Their resale value is over several thousand dollars.

After Kanye’s controversial remarks, Adidas said they were the “sole owners” of the Yeezy shoes. West alleged that the designs had been stolen from him and that the company owed him money. However, according to a report by CNN, the “Yeezy” might be owned by Ye. But the Yeezy shoe designs are Adidas’ intellectual property.

“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,” the company’s statement on Tuesday read.

Gap was also producing the shoes. The company in September announced the termination of their contract with Ye.

Balenciaga, that had partnered with Ye in his Yeezy Gap project and did a runway show in Paris with a modeling stint by Ye earlier in October, deleted him from the pictures and videos of the show.

Gap said that the company was taking “immediate steps” to remove Yeezy Gap shoes from their stores.

Several sportspersons, including Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, announced that they were cutting ties with Donda Sports, Ye’s sports marketing agency, over his remarks.

Adidas, on October 6, announced that they were putting their relationship with Ye “under review”.

Adidas is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It was founded by Adi Dassler, a member of the Nazi Party. However, it was because of a Jew friend that Dassler was allowed to keep his factory after World War 2 ended.

The Central Council of Jews called on the company to cut ties with Ye.

“The historical responsibility of Adidas lays not only in the German roots of the company, but also in its entanglement with the Nazi regime,” Josef Schuster, the head of the council, said, as per the NYT.

“I simply expect such a company to take a strict position regarding antisemitism,” Schuster had added.

West is no stranger when it comes to controversies.

His relationship with his former wife, Kim Kardashian, has been in the news ever since the couple started dating in 2011. After they decided to separate in 2022, West shared screenshots of explosive messages he had sent to Kardashian post filing for the divorce. He went on to publicly harass the TV star.

In March, West was banned from Instagram for 24 hours after his racial remarks towards comedian Trevor Noah who called him out for harassing Kardashian.

During the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West went on stage while Taylor Swift was receiving the prize for “Best Female Video” and took over the mic to say that Beyonce should have won the award.