{"id":14035,"date":"2022-10-26T04:09:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T11:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14035"},"modified":"2022-10-26T04:09:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T11:09:48","slug":"adidas-ends-lucrative-partnership-with-west-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14035","title":{"rendered":"“Adidas Ends Lucrative Partnership With West”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Melissa Eddy,\u00a0<\/span>Vanessa Friedman<\/span> and Michael J. de la Merced, Berlin, New York, Oct. 26, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

The German sportswear giant is the latest company to cut ties with Mr. West, now known as Ye, after his antisemitic remarks<\/a>. Ending the partnership is expected to hurt company profits.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kanye<\/p>\n

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Kanye West, now known as Ye, in Hollywood in 2016 at an event promoting his partnership with Adidas.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Jonathan Leibson\/Getty Images North America<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For more than two weeks, as Kanye West made a series of antisemitic remarks and embraced a slogan associated with white supremacists, Adidas, the most important partner in his fashion empire, said only that its relationship with the rapper and designer was \u201cunder review.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as Ye, as Mr. West is now known, continued his offensive behavior, and with the condemnation of his remarks growing more widespread, Adidas announced Tuesday that it would cut ties with him \u2014 a move the company said would cost it 250 million euros ($246 million) this year.<\/p>\n

The end of their nearly decade-long partnership \u2014 which one estimate said was worth close to $100 million annually to Ye \u2014 raised questions of what would come next for Ye, who has been one of the most influential pop stars of recent decades but has become increasingly polarizing and unreliable. CAA, Ye\u2019s former talent agency, no longer represents him and Def Jam, his longtime record company, said that his contract had expired last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,\u201d the company said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cYe\u2019s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company\u2019s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The company, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, said it would terminate the partnership immediately, end production of Yeezy-branded products and stop payments to Ye and his companies.<\/p>\n

Over the past month, Ye tested the boundaries of acceptable behavior even for a noted provocateur. At his YZYSZN9 Paris Fashion Week show, he wore a shirt with the slogan \u201cWhite Lives Matter,\u201d which the Anti-Defamation League has identified as hate speech and has been adopted by the white supremacist movement. He made antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews shortly after, including a post on Twitter that said he would go \u201cdeath con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blowback quickly followed.<\/p>\n

Instagram and Twitter<\/a> suspended Ye\u2019s accounts. Ari Emanuel of Endeavor, the parent company of the talent agency WME, called on entertainment companies<\/a> to stop working with Ye. Balenciaga, the fashion house that had partnered with Ye in his Yeezy Gap project (which came to an end<\/a> in September) and opened its runway show in Paris this month with a modeling stint by Ye, deleted him from its pictures and videos of the show.<\/p>\n

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Kanye West, the rapper\u00a0and\u00a0fashion designer who now goes by Ye, has been at the center of several controversies because of his divisive commentary and antisemitic screeds.<\/h3>\n