Adidas finally cuts ties with Kanye West after pressure from the public following antisemitic comments

Adidas has ended its partnership with Kanye West after he made a series of antisemitic remarks and embraced a slogan associated with white supremacists that earned him widespread condemnation.

The German sportswear giant said on Tuesday, October 25, that it “does not tolerate antisemitism” after the rapper was suspended from Instagram and Twitter over offensive posts.

Adidas added that recent comments and actions from Kanye West had been “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness”.

The company said it would take a “short-term” hit of €250m (£217m) to its income for this year after deciding to stop the brand’s business with immediate effect.

It is to end production for products under West’s Yeezy brand and stop all payments to the rapper and his companies.

In 2020, the partnership brought in nearly $1.7bn in revenue for Adidas, according to Bloomberg, and was due to expire in 2026.

Adidas put the deal up for review after West’s controversial Paris show earlier this month, where models walked the catwalk wearing “White Lives Matter” shirts.

Adidas’s move comes after Balenciaga, Gap and JPMorgan Chase all cut ties with West. Kanye recently claimed that Adidas could not drop him, despite his comments prompting calls for a boycott.

Balenciaga officially cuts ties with Kanye West over anti-semitic comments

Luxury fashion label, Balenciaga, has officially cut ties with Billionaire rapper and long time collaborator, Kanye West following his recent string of antisemitic and offensive remarks.

Balenciaga began distancing itself from West following his controversial appearance on the podcast Drink Champs released last week, where he falsely claimed that George Floyd wasn’t murdered but killed by fentanyl.

On Oct. 17, the fashion giant issued a statement saying West’s runway look from Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 show at Paris Fashion Week had been deleted from Vogue Runway, as well as the Balenciaga website.

Additionally, Balenciaga said it had removed a section on its website dedicated to the three Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collaborations, which launched earlier this year.

Those items were also no longer available on other online retailers.Following its third-quarter earnings report Thursday, October 20,2022, the fashion label’s parent company Kering said in a statement to WWD, “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”

With Balenciaga severing ties, West has lost one of his closest and oldest partners in the luxury fashion world.

The two have been entwined for years, largely thanks to West’s long-standing relationship with the fashion house’s creative director Demna Gvasalia, which dates back to around 2014, when Vestments — the label Demna founded with his brother, Guram Gvasalia broke through in the fashion world.

In 2015, the Gvaslia brothers consulted West on his Yeezy Season 1 line, and by the end of the year, Demna was signed to head up Balenciaga.

West and Demna’s relationship really solidified in 2019. The two texted constantly and eventually started working together again, with Demna serving as the creative director on West’s Donda listening parties in 2021.

“With Ye, I have something that I don’t really have with other people, where anything is possible,” Demna told The Times last year.

“For me, talking with him is like going back in time to the 8-year-old me who doesn’t have all these barriers and filters. We spent like two and a half hours talking about buttons.

Those kinds of conversations help me to evolve as a designer because I think: ‘Yeah, why do we do it like this? Why buttons? Why packaging?’ I never thought about that before.”

Kanye West raises $1 million for DMX’s family in partnership with Balenciaga

American billionaire rapper, Kanye West has raised $1 million to support DMX’s family in the wake of his demise.

Through his Yeezy brand, West collaborated with fashion brand Balenciaga to create a T-shirt in honor of DMX, who died on April 10, just days after suffering a heart attack at his home.

All of the net proceeds from the $200 shirt will go to the late rapper’s family.

According to TMZ and Page Six, shirt sales raised $1 million and sold out within 24 hours over the weekend, during which time a public memorial for DMX took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

DMX’s official Instagram account also advertised the T-shirt before it sold out.

Born Earl Simmons, DMX is featured on the front, along with his stage name in the standard font used on many of his album covers.

He wears slim black sunglasses in the photo while crossing his arms over his chest and also crossing his fingers.

The money collected would be given to DMX’s family, who were remembered on Sunday at a private funeral that took place at Brooklyn’s Christian Cultural Center.

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