Balenciaga and Adidas, the latter of which was founded by members of the Nazi party, have partnered with vocally anti-Israel supermodel Bella Hadid to front their latest collaboration, prompting accusations of hypocrisy only weeks after both companies parted ways with Kanye West over his antisemitism.
Balenciaga announced last month that it was severing ties with West over his antisemitic remarks, which included saying he will go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and slamming the “Jewish underground media mafia,” but Adidas held back from making a move. In the ensuing days, West bragged he can “say antisemitic s*** and they cannot drop me.”
The following week, the sportswear firm finally terminated its partnership with the rapper, saying his remarks were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.”
Balenciaga and Adidas have come under fire for hiring Hadid as the face of its new collaboration, the second of its kind.
Arsen Ostrovsky, human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum, a global coalition of lawyers which spearheaded a campaign demanding that Adidas end its partnership with Kanye, said hiring Hadid immediately after dropping Kanye was only “motivated by money.”
“That they simply just replaced one antisemite for another, only underscores that these brands were never motivated by doing the right thing and showing leadership in tackling racial hatred, but rather only care about their profits,” Ostrovsky told Breitbart News.
“Kanye and Hadid are no different, both engage in antisemitism and need to be called out, not given a global platform by international brands,” he went on.
Ostrovsky noted Adidas‘ “dark past” as a German company during the Holocaust.
Hadid, the daughter of Palestinian-American real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid, has described Israel “apartheid” state and accused Israeli Jews of being a “a group of colonizers.”
The supermodel recently claimed her support of “Palestine” had cost her friends and job opportunities.
“There have been so many brands that have stopped working with me. A lot of friends have also turned their backs on me,” Hadid said.
Hadid has lamented the death of Palestinian terrorists on her Instagram, shared the lie Israel was occupying land that had been Palestinian for “4,000 years,” and claimed “Jesus was a Palestinian.”
West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, who expressed her support for Jewish people during the height of her ex-husband’s rants, has been spotted wearing designs from the latest Balenciaga-Adidas collab.