Kanye West has been the leading face of hip-hop and rap ever since his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out to critical acclaim, bringing a revolutionary change in rap music. The Yeezus rapper is still in the spotlight nowadays for many reasons, though most of them aren’t a good look for him.
Kanye West has been quite the fan of Donald Trump, having reiterated his love for the former POTUS several times in the past few years. That love for Trump has now taken Ye to another level of controversy after his most recent comments, or actions, have painted him as an anti-semitic celebrity, costing him a deal with clothing giant Adidas!
Adidas Has Cut Ties With Kanye West, Here’s Why
Adidas’ relationship with Kanye West has been phenomenal up until the recent past few weeks. There’s not much to be said about the 45-year-old rapper’s Yeezy clothing line, the successful collaboration has cemented him as one of the most successful celebrity-turned-designers of the recent decade.
But what could be the reason for Adidas making such a bold business move that obviously isn’t in their favor? Kanye West is simply a problematic person, no matter how good his music is. His recent anti-semitic remarks have resulted in the ending of a fruitful business relationship between the 21-time GRAMMY winner and arguably the world’s most popular clothing company.
For the unversed, Ye’s been on the anti-semitism train ever since 2013 when he claimed that Jewish people had an elevated level of ‘connections’ as compared to black people. He claimed that the low level of ‘connections’ were the reason why the then-POTUS Barack Obama wasn’t able to push policies in Washington.
Ye’s hate for the Jewish community took on a whole new form when he made an Instagram post suggesting that rapper P.Diddy was controlled by Jews, Instagram locked his account shortly after. Just a day later, West posted a tweet saying that “I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”, what followed was a loss of access to his Twitter account.
In an official statement posted on its website just yesterday, the $20 billion company announced the parting of ways-
“adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. 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”
It further stated that it will “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies”
Whatever Kanye West has on his mind, it’s not giving him a good look.
What Cutting Ties With Kanye West Meant For Adidas
Adidas has just cut off a $1.5 billion worth deal with Kanye West, but there are bound to be larger financial implications after the end of their partnership. The statement on Tuesday resulted in a steep fall in the shares of the company, going down by as much as 8%.
To get a better grasp on how successful Ye’s collaboration with Adidas is, the recent cutting of ties with the Late Registration rapper by the clothing giant would cost them a whopping net loss of £217m this year. Huge numbers!
The FourFiveSeconds rapper has also gotten his share of losses from the deal too, with the termination of their partnership resulting in Ye losing his place in Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires.
It’s been estimated by the magazine that he’s looking at a $1.1 billion drop in his net worth, which was $1.5 billion before, his net worth is currently valued at $400 million.
Source: BBC
