German sportswear giant Adidas will end its partnership with Kanye West, calling his recent antisemitic tirades “dangerous” as a host of other companies also abandon the American rapper as he continues to refuse to walk back his previous antisemitic remarks.
Recent remarks by West — who legally changed his name to “Ye”— were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous,” Adidas said in a statement.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately,” the company said.
The company’s stock tumbled just ahead of the news that it cut ties with West, saying it could lose up to $247 million in lost sales from West’s Yeezy line.
Adidas joins others who have already cut ties with West, including his talent agency, Creative Arts Agency (CAA), fashion house Balenciaga and global fashion powerhouse Anna Wintour and her magazine, Vogue.
Johnny Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez, and the firm at which she is employed, Brown Rudnick, also dropped him as a client after he refused to retract his comments.
The announcement followed intense pressure on Adidas to sever ties with West, including from the Anti-Defamation League, which called on Adidas to “reconsider” its partnership with him.
Social network Parler announced on October 17 a deal for Kanye West to buy the platform just over a week after the rapper’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted over anti-Semitic posts. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
West’s antisemitic comments included calling for the death of Jews and slamming the “Jewish underground media mafia.”
Earlier this month, West had his Twitter and Instagram accounts suspended. JP Morgan Chase has also reportedly severed ties with the rapper’s Yeezy empire, and fashion label Balenciaga has dropped him from its campaigns. Adidas, so far, has only said that the partnership was “under review.”
The rapper tweeted that he will go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” in an apparent botched reference to the U.S. Army’s defense readiness condition (DEFCON) alert system.
He also added that he “actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.”
West also told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson during an interview that former President Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner initiated the Abraham Accords normalization agreements between Israel and Arab Muslim nations “to make money.”
West bragged last week: “The thing about it being Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they cannot drop me.”
Prior to Adidas’s announcement, its own trade marketing director, Sarah Camhi, came out against the company for not severing ties.
“Coming off of the Adidas global week of inclusion, I am feeling anything but included,” Camhi, who is Jewish, wrote on Instagram. “As a member of the Jewish community, I can no longer stay silent on behalf of the brand that employs me. Not saying anything, is saying everything.”
“We have dropped Adidas athletes for using steroids and being difficult to work with but are unwilling to denounce hate speech, the perpetuation of dangerous stereotypes and blatant racism by one of our top brand partners,” Camhi wrote. She added: “Until Adidas takes a stand, I will not stand with Adidas.”
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