Here’s all the brands that have distanced themselves from Kanye West so far
Kanye West has paid a heavy price for his antisemitic views as brands fall over themselves to distance themselves from the rapper. Here are all the broken partnerships so far.
Kanye West faces the music
Brands have scrambled for the exit door en masse, chief among them Adidas after previously saying that its partnership was “under review” more than a week after the incident first occurred.
Faced with the catastrophic fallout from an antisemitic tirade, in which the star boasted that he “can be antisemitic and Adidas won’t drop me,” the American rapper (also known as Ye) found himself proven wrong in dramatic fashion.
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In a statement, the sportswear brand wrote: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and other 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...
“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.”
More collaborators have followed, most notably fashion house Balenciaga and clothing retailer Gap, as companies who once courted the singer seek to place as much distance between themselves and him as possible.
And then there’s the unusual case of Sketchers. The rapper was removed from the footwear brand’s Los Angeles HQ and accused of “unauthorized filming” of the brand, which released a terse statement saying that it “has no intention of working with West.”
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TMZ points out that Sketchers was founded and is run by a Jewish family, which would have likely sullied any potential collaboration.
The collapse of his empire is costly to both Ye and his collaborators. Launched a mere three months ago, the branded collection included a Yeezy Gap website, a mobile app and a fleet of black trucks to distribute the clothing across the US – all of which has now been unceremoniously scrapped.
As a result, the former billionaire has seen his net worth slashed to an estimated £345m and falling.