Adidas is ending its partnership with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, the athletic apparel company said today (Oct. 25). The decision comes after Ye was locked out of Twitter and Instagram for making antisemitic remarks on the platforms.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” Adidas said in a statement. “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 Germany-based company is stopping production of its Yeezy products immediately, and expects the decision to knock off $246 million from its net income this year.
Though other companies have recently cut ties with the artist, one of the sharpest calls for Adidas to sever its partnership with Ye came from inside the company. In a LinkedIn post that went viral yesterday, Sarah Camhi, Adidas’s director of trade marketing, called out the company for remaining silent for two weeks after Ye made the antisemitic comments.
“We have dropped adidas athletes for using steroids and being difficult to work with but are unwilling to denounce hate speech, the perpetuation of dangerous stereotypes and blatant racism by one of our top brand partners,” Camhi wrote. “Until adidas takes a stand, I will not stand with adidas.”
