Not a day has passed since Adidas issued a statement announcing that it had ended its collaboration with Kanye West (that is, ceasing production of the Yeezy brand), as the artist began “in his own way” according to one Search for replacement: according to CNN Ye showed up “unannounced and uninvited” at Skechers’ Los Angeles offices last night and began to house staff at the facility until two security guards escorted him out. Shortly thereafter, the sneaker brand released a statement in which it made it clear that it had nothing to do with West: “We condemn his comments and do not condone hate speech of any kind. Also, to reiterate that it was presented without an invitation ».
Following Adidas’ announcement, the sports giant’s stock fell 6%. The collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West reported no less than 8% of footwear sales to the German company. In 2020, Yeezy (which includes clothing and shoes) had sales of €1,800 million. As such, the brand has been thinking a lot about what to do with West following the escalation of anti-Semitic, pro-Trump and even racist sentiments that the rapper has starred in over the past month. But he decided to do so due to pressure from tens of thousands of network users. West went on to say, “Adidas would never fire him, no matter how many comments he made.” That wasn’t the case, and according to Forbes yesterday, the rapper is no longer the “richest black man in the United States,” as he once said. Without Gap, without Adidas and without Balenciaga, his fortune has “collapsed” to 400 million euros. And half of that can be lost because the family of George Floyd, who was killed by police in 2020, a fact that launched the Black Lives Matter movement, has sued Kanye for defamation, seeking 250 million in damages . The rapper went so far as to say in a recent interview that Floyd died “as a result of exposure to fentanyl.”
In September, Ye announced on his Instagram that Adidas executives “benefit from him” after announcing that he had sued Gap for breach of contract (according to him, they broke promises to open stores in his name and how his intention to sell their collections all over the world was not fulfilled because the prices were high despite being sold out within a few hours). However, it was not clear in what respect the relationship with the sports banner remained. Shortly thereafter, a video was leaked of West allegedly forcing executives at the brand to watch a pornographic film on his phone during a meeting.
The controversy surrounding Ye has grown exponentially every day since he unveiled the White Lives Matter t-shirt at his show three weeks ago. First there were the insults of the artist formerly known as Kanye West via Instagram, including against the stylist Gabriella Karefah Johnson or the founder of Supreme, Treamine Emory. West even published a private conversation between the two, in which the rapper accused the designer of selling himself to the system and even taking advantage of the death of Virgil Abloh, a friend of theirs. But the worst would come days later, when Ye Puff Daddy said (he republished the private conversation) that he had “sold himself to the Jews” and they were the ones who sent him to threaten him. Instagram canceled her account and she took to Twitter, where she wrote that she couldn’t be anti-Semitic because many Blacks were Jews, but that they “threatened anyone who defied their agenda.” They also terminated his account.
A few days earlier Ye, who had invited Candace Owens, a pro-Trump commentator of African descent, to the parade (and with whom he attended the premiere of a documentary which they say is dismantling the Black Lives Matter movement days later) , gave Fox an exclusive interview (how could it be otherwise), arguing that the shirt in question carried a “pro-life” message. Half of black deaths in the United States are due to abortion.
He also commented that he received death threats when he was spotted with Donald Trump wearing a Make America Great Again cap and compared to David in front of Goliath, arguing that “he has a direct connection to God Has”. Hours later, the Washington Post claimed portions of that interview were truncated, in which West claimed things like professional actors breaking into the home he shared with Kim Kardashian to “pervert their children.” However, his interviewer Tucker Carlson, famous for his xenophobic remarks and unconditional support for Trump, veiledly argues in the video that West is right: “Is he crazy or not? Judge for yourself,” he announces at the beginning. Hours after that interview, news broke that West had bought Parler, the controversial far-right social network that was pulled from Google and Apple’s digital stores after the Capitol was captured.
Last Friday, Balenciaga issued a statement claiming to have severed all ties with Ye. A decision that took three weeks but was finally made, despite the fact that the ties linking the rapper to Demna, the brand’s artistic director, come from afar (he was one of the main supporters of the Georgian creative when he founded the cult company Vetements and Demna was responsible for the artistic direction of his latest album Donda, among other things). Also in this hate spiral surrounding the rapper was artist Eliza Douglas, Balenciaga’s muse and model, who Kanye called “Demna’s high school girlfriend” on his social media, in a nod to the designer preferring him to that. Now that has been Image of West opening the October 1st Balenciaga show, removed from the platforms. “Balenciaga no longer has a relationship with the artist and has no plans to work with him in the future,” read the brief statement released by Kering, the holding company that owns the brand.