The largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, Adidas has parted ways with famous U.S rapper Kanye West over his anti-semitic remarks.
The company, which signed a $1.5 billion partnership deal with West, said it does not tolerate antisemitism or any form of hate speech which was displayed by West earlier this month.
Adidas said in a post, “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.”
The sportswear manufacturer had come under increasing pressure to drop the controversial musician following his unnecessary comment or risk customers backlash.
Addidas split with the U.S rapper would see the company ending production of West Yeezy branded products which encompass sneakers and clothing, and will also stop every form of payment to him and his company.
Why Did Adidas Terminate Kenye West Partnership Deal?
Earlier this month at his YZY 9 Paris Fashion Week show, Kanye debuted his clothing brand of “White Lives Matter” shirts which he posted on Instagram but was later taken down by the platform citing anti-Semitic remarks.
West later moved to Twitter, where he posted a photo of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and himself doing karaoke.“How you gone kick me off Instagram” he captioned it.
He continued to publicize his anti-Semitic comment despite an outcry to stop. Before calling it a day that day, he wrote, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jews also You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda [sic]”.
The tweet has since been deleted after being flagged for violating Twitter rules.
With the recent termination of his deal with Adidas Forbes reports that West could lose his billionaire status as there are speculations that his wealth could plummet to below $ 1 billion.
It would be recalled that Investors King on October 18, 2022, reported that West made a move to purchase Parler an American alt-tech social networking service to promote free speech due to his recent restriction from Instagram and Twitter.
