Kanye West has never been a little angel. Quite the opposite: his career has been marked by controversies. One of the most famous was with Adidas, with whom he collaborated for almost a decade until they broke off relations in 2022. And everything went to waste for serious reasons.
The sports brand ended its relationship with the rapper due to disturbing anti-Semitic views expressed by West, according to a recent New York Times report. Speaking to the outlet, Adidas has stated that his decision to end the partnership with West is in line with its policy of non-tolerance of hate speech and offensive behavior.
The first red flag arose in the first meeting between West and the Adidas team in 2013, when the rapper, frustrated with the designs presented for the collaboration with Yeezy, drew a swastika on a shoe sketch. The incident, which occurred near Nuremberg, the emblematic site of the trials of Nazi leaders, left the brand's workers stunned.
The newspaper's sources have revealed that this would not be West's only manifestation in this regard. In later years, he allegedly advised a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss an image of Hitler daily and expressed his admiration for Hitler's propaganda skills. It was even revealed in 2018 that West paid a seven-figure sum to a former Yeezy executive after being accused of repeatedly praising the architect of the Holocaust.
The New York Times article also includes accusations of sexual harassment by Kanye West. The report mentions that, on multiple occasions, West forced executives to watch sexually explicit films. In parallel, in 2015, during the first Yeezy fashion show, sexually rude comments by the rapper were reported. Additionally, Adidas employees have also reported tense work environments, filled with screaming and crying, which added to an unpleasant and hostile work environment.
Despite these indications, Adidas continued its partnership with West, even tripling his guaranteed annual salary in 2016 due to the increasing profit margins the Yeezy collaboration provided. However, it was not until October 2022, after multiple public anti-Semitic remarks by West, when the German company decided to take advantage of the morality clause included in its contract, ending the collaboration.
The termination of this contract financially affected West, whose net worth was reduced by $1.1 billion. In addition, other companies, such as Gap, Balenciaga and Vogue, also severed ties with the rapper. Adidas, for its part, resumed sales of stocked Yeezy products, generating $437 million in sales through June, reducing the company's expected annual losses from $700 million to about $100 million.
