In a move that was once considered unlikely, Adidas has officially decided to end it’s partnership with Ye immediately.
In a statement released on Tuesday, (Oct. 25), the sportswear company made the announcement to cut ties after weeks of controversial and offensive statements.
“adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the statement began. “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.”
“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.”
Ye’s partnership with Adidas began in 2013 after a brief partnership with Nike. Their decision to cease the production of all Yeezy products including sneakers will hurt their business in the short term as highlighted in their official statement.
“This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to $250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.”
The fallout with Ye began when earlier this month when the artist decided to go on Twitter and Instagram and say he was “going death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.” That week he also faced backlash for displaying wardrobe at his Yeezy Season 9 Show that read “White Lives Matter.”
Following the backlash of the comments he then was rumored to buy the conservative social media platform Parler.
Ye then appeared on interviews alongside Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson’s show on FOX News, and the Drink Champs podcast which has since been taken down.
On Tucker Carlson’s show, unaired footage showed additional antisemitic comments that continued to fuel the fire.
“Think about us judging each other on how white we could talk would be like, you know, a Jewish person judging another Jewish person on how good they danced or something,” he said. “I mean, that’s probably like a bad example and people are going to get mad at that s***. I probably want to edit that out.”
He also offended many during the now deleted Drink Champs episode in which he spoke falsehoods about the death of George Floyd at the hand of Derek Chauvin who was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on April 20, 2021.
The family of George Floyd is now opening a lawsuit against Ye for $250 million for emotional distress and “harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress seeking $250 million dollars in damages,” according to a statement by the mother of Floyd, Roxie Washington.
Since his comments, Ye has also lost parnerships with Balenciaga, Vogue, his agency, CAA, G.O.O.D. Music’s partnership with Def Jam, and more!
The list of brands distancing themselves from West is growing. Balenciaga and Vogue publicly cut ties last week, and on Monday, talent agency CAA dropped West as a client. Production company MRC said that it’s shelving a documentary on West.
Adidas also addressed the conversation about the rights to their product at the end of their statement.
“adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. More information will be given as part of the company’s upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on November 9, 2022.”
Ye went on Twitter earlier this month to claim they stole his ideas.
“FUUUUUUCK ADIDAS,” he wrote on Instagram. “I AM ADIDAS ADIDAS RAPED AND STOLE MY DESIGNS.”
Ye has been suspended on Twitter and Instagram due to his offensive comments.
There has been no statement from Ye as of this time following adidas decision to cut ties with him.