- Kanye ‘didn’t mean what he said’ about Jews, Adidas CEO says CNN
- Adidas chief exec: Kanye West ‘didn’t mean what he said’ with antisemitic comments The Guardian
- Adidas CEO On Kanye West After Yeezy Antisemitism Fallout: “I Don’t Think He Meant What He Said” Deadline
- Adidas CEO Talks Kanye West After Yeezy Fallout: ‘I Don’t Think he Meant What he Said’ Billboard
- Kanye West receives support from Adidas CEO despite past remarks: “He’s not a bad person” Marca English
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- Adidas shareholders launch class action lawsuit over Kanye West brand Yeezy The Guardian
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Adidas employees raised concerns about Ye’s conduct for years, report says
Gilbert Carrasquillo | Getty
The chief executive and other senior leaders at Adidas discussed the potential fallout from its relationship with Kanye West as far back as four years ago, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
During a 2018 presentation to the Adidas executive board, a group of employees reportedly outlined the risks that they faced by interacting with West, who has legally changed his name to Ye. The presentation included a number of mitigation strategies that included cutting ties with the Yeezy creator, the report said.
But Adidas executives did not sever ties when these concerns were raised, and instead continued to meet with Ye to try and hold onto the partnership, which made nearly $2 billion a year for Adidas, or 10% of its revenue, according to Morningstar analyst David Swartz. During one meeting in September of this year, the report said, Ye accused Adidas executives of stealing his designs and showed them a clip of an adult video.
The German sportswear giant officially terminated its partnership with Ye in October after the musician made a series of offensive and antisemitic comments.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company 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.”
A month later, Adidas announced that it is investigating accusations made by staff relating to Ye’s conduct after an anonymous letter alleged years of abuse.
Ye’s alleged behavior was not new, according to employees who spoke to the Journal. Some of them had raised concerns about Ye to leaders and human resources at Adidas as far back as 2018.
“It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true,” Adidas said in a statement Thursday. “However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”
Kanye West: Adidas to launch investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior made against rapper
CNN Business
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Adidas will begin an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Kanye West, with whom the company had a partnership that it ended in October.
In a statement released Thursday, Adidas said “it is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true. However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”
The statement follows an article in Rolling Stone which reported that Adidas board members ignored inappropriate behavior from the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, in its partnership with his Yeezy brand.
Rolling Stone says it obtained a letter sent by former high-ranking employees of Yeezy to executive board members on Tuesday about “the toxic and chaotic environment that Kanye West created.” The letter went on to say, “This type of response from a brand partner is one that Adidas employees should never be subjected to, nor should Adidas leadership ever tolerate.”
Adidas ended its partnership with Ye after he made a series of antisemitic remarks in recent months. In late October, West addressed the antisemetic comments — as well as as what he’s said about George Floyd and Black Lives Matter — in a rambling 16-minute video shared by WmgLab Records on YouTube and seemingly recorded at some point after Adidas ended its business relationship with him.
“I think Adidas felt like cause everyone was ganging up on me that they had the right to just take my designs,” West told a small crowd.
In the video, West did not apologize for his antisemitic remarks but seemed to try to distance himself from any “hate group.”
“I have no association to any hate group,” West said as he closed his remarks in prayer. “If any hate happens upon any Jewish person, it is not associated (gestures to himself) because I am demanding that everyone walk in love.”
Adidas had partnered with West since 2013, when the company signed his brand away from rival Nike. In 2016, Adidas expanded its relationship with the rapper, calling it “the most significant partnership ever created between a non-athlete and an athletic brand.”
West doesn’t currently have an attorney or publicist representing him in this matter.
– CNN’s Dan Heching contributed to this report
Kanye West: Adidas to launch investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior made against rapper
CNN Business
—
Adidas will begin an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Kanye West, with whom the company had a partnership that it ended in October.
In a statement released Thursday, Adidas said “it is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true. However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”
The statement follows an article in Rolling Stone which reported that Adidas board members ignored inappropriate behavior from the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, in its partnership with his Yeezy brand.
Rolling Stone says it obtained a letter sent by former high-ranking employees of Yeezy to executive board members on Tuesday about “the toxic and chaotic environment that Kanye West created.” The letter went on to say, “This type of response from a brand partner is one that Adidas employees should never be subjected to, nor should Adidas leadership ever tolerate.”
Adidas ended its partnership with Ye after he made a series of antisemitic remarks in recent months. In late October, West addressed the antisemetic comments — as well as as what he’s said about George Floyd and Black Lives Matter — in a rambling 16-minute video shared by WmgLab Records on YouTube and seemingly recorded at some point after Adidas ended its business relationship with him.
“I think Adidas felt like cause everyone was ganging up on me that they had the right to just take my designs,” West told a small crowd.
In the video, West did not apologize for his antisemitic remarks but seemed to try to distance himself from any “hate group.”
“I have no association to any hate group,” West said as he closed his remarks in prayer. “If any hate happens upon any Jewish person, it is not associated (gestures to himself) because I am demanding that everyone walk in love.”
Adidas had partnered with West since 2013, when the company signed his brand away from rival Nike. In 2016, Adidas expanded its relationship with the rapper, calling it “the most significant partnership ever created between a non-athlete and an athletic brand.”
West doesn’t currently have an attorney or publicist representing him in this matter.
– CNN’s Dan Heching contributed to this report
Adidas to investigate claims Kanye West showed pornography to staff | Kanye West
The sportswear giant Adidas is to launch an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct made this week against the US rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, including that he showed pornography to staff at company meetings.
The claims by unidentified staff at Yeezy and Adidas, which surfaced in a Rolling Stone article on Tuesday, included allegations that the musician, who has changed his name to Ye, showed an intimate picture of his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, in job interviews, and that his “problematic behavior” was overlooked by Adidas management.
Staff allegations included in a letter to Adidas obtained by the outlet included claims that Adidas “turned their moral compass off” and failed to protect employees from “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks”.
Adidas said in a statement on Thursday that “it is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true” but that it took the claims “very seriously” and had “taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations”.
The sportswear brand initially said it would not “discuss private conversations, details or events that lead to our decision to terminate the Adidas Yeezy partnership” but it had “been and continue[d] to be actively engaged in conversations with our employees about the events that led to our decision to end the partnership”.
In one alleged 2017 incident, Ye yelled at a senior female member of the design team that a Yeezy sneaker was not up to standards. West reportedly looked down at his foot, and up at the employee, and said: “I want you to make me a shoe I can fuck.”
Analysts estimate that the Yeezy partnership accounts for 7% of the group’s revenue. Adidas has said it believes losing Yeezy will halve its expected profits this year. It is not yet clear if Adidas will continue to sell the designs, which the company owns, without Yeezy’s logo, which it does not.
The decision to launch an inquiry comes after one of Adidas’ largest shareholders, Union Investment, demanded clarity about the alleged incidents. Last month Adidas abandoned a licensing and design contract with Ye after he made antisemitic threats.
Janne Werning, head of ESG capital markets and stewardship at Union Investment, which holds a 1% stake in Adidas, told the Financial Times: “Adidas needs to disclose when the management and the supervisory board was first informed about the internal allegations.”
Kim Kardashian Just Hit Kanye West Where It Hurts By Wearing Adidas And Balenciaga Outfit On Instagram
Kim Kardashian continues to rock her single gal glow with sultry, curve-hugging and designer ensembles in posts for her 334 million Instagram followers. The reality star, 42, just uploaded a new mirror pic for fans in which she is seen donning a gray, logo print, lurex turtleneck sweater from the Balenciaga x Adidas collaboration, skimpy black shorts adorned with the iconic Adidas white stripes, and black over-the-knee boots by Balenciaga from their Spring/Summer 2023 collection.
While Kardashian is no stranger to stunning in pieces from both of these brands, with Balenciaga being her ex Kanye West‘s favorite label and him having just lost his Yeezy deal with Adidas (thanks to his violent antisemitic comments), some fans think this seems like interesting timing.
READ More: 20 Pictures Of A Young Kim Kardashian: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Kim Kardashian’s Sultry, Curve-Hugging Balenciaga x Adidas Get-Up
In the SKIMS mogul’s upload, she is seen sitting on a couch, posing to show her body’s side profile and holding up a phone with a black case that covers her face. Kardashian wore her long, wavy blonde locks down and parted in the middle for the snap, and appeared to be hanging out in her walk-in closet.
For her caption, the style icon who really needs no introduction kept her message to fans simple, writing, “hey.” While garnering millions of likes in the process, Kardashian’s pic also inspired many comments of approval and others condemning her for wearing items from a label that is currently facing backlash for its latest advertisements.
“Incredible figure,” wrote one fan while another conveyed their thoughts with a plethora of heart-eye emojis. Kardashian has been a brand ambassador and outspoken fan of Balenciaga for several years now, and her ex, West (who is now legally known as Ye) collaborated with the label for the popular Yeezy Gap line earlier this year. The fashion powerhouse (along with Adidas) severed all ties with Ye following his slew of antisemitic comments and controversial statements.
Balenciaga Comes Under Fire For New Ads
In Kardashian’s post’s comment section, many fans urged the mom of four to “call out Balenciaga” or to “stop wearing” clothes from them following a recent advertisement campaign that isn’t sitting well with many.
Balenciaga has since apologized for their controversial holiday ad campaign that depicted children holding teddy bears and handbags that featured fetish gear, including harnesses, cuffs and fishnets. This then sparked thousands of TikTok, Twitter and Instagram users to use a new hashtag— #cancelBalenciaga this week.
Demna Gvasalia, Georgian fashion designer and creative director of Balenciaga just released a statement via Instagram on the matter, writing,”We sincerely apologise for any offence our Holiday campaign may have caused.” He continued, “Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
With Kardashian, Justin Bieber and Bella Hadid as just some of the French fashion house’s biggest models and style muses, many social media users continue to call out to them specifically. Some of Kardashian’s most memorable outfits of the year featured Balenciaga designs, such as her recent pink cut-out gown worn to the Baby2Baby Gala last week, her plunging, waist-cinched black gown for the label’s 51st Couture Collection show at Paris Fashion Week, and more.
Kanye West reportedly showed explicit photos to employees at Adidas | Kanye West
Kanye West has been accused of showing explicit pictures of his former wife Kim Kardashian to employees at Adidas, as part of behaviour many saw as “intimidation tactics”, according to a new report.
The 43-year-old rapper and producer, also known as Ye, last month lost a design contract with the sportswear brand over antisemitic comments. He was accused of showing the images in a Rolling Stone article published on Tuesday.
One employee claimed Ye showed an explicit picture of Kardashian, 41, during a job interview in 2018.
“My wife just sent me this,” Ye allegedly said after showing a “very revealing and personal” photo on his phone.
Another former employee, according to the report, alleged Ye showed “personal” images of Kardashian to the creative team at his Yeezy brand in the same year.
A third unidentified source told Rolling Stone West was “not afraid to show explicit images or talk about situations that should be kept private”.
Former Adidas employees told Rolling Stone Ye frequently showed explicit images, including his own sex tapes.
“I feel it was a tactic to break a person down and establish their unwavering allegiance to him, testing and destroying people’s boundaries,” one said. Another claimed Ye targeted female employees.
Some of the allegations were made in an open letter, entitled The Truth About Yeezy: A Call to Action for Adidas Leadership, which was obtained by Rolling Stone. In the letter, employees criticized Adidas executives for allegedly turning off their “moral compass”.
The letter urged Adidas board members and senior leaders to address “the toxic and chaotic environment that Kanye West created” and “a very sick pattern of predacious behavior toward women”.
The letter continued: “He has, in years past, exploded at women in the room with offensive remarks, and would resort to sexually disturbing references when providing design feedback. This type of response from a brand partner is one that Adidas employees should never be subjected to, nor should Adidas leadership ever tolerate.”
In comments to Rolling Stone, employees at Yeezy and Adidas also voiced regret at accepting what they saw was an unwritten rule – “Kanye is just Kanye” – that they said diminished the impact of his alleged behavior.
In the letter, employees accused Adidas of lacking “responsibility, accountability, and protection that Adidas failed to provide their employees throughout what we experienced as years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks”.
One former employee who worked closely with Ye said: “Adidas enabled a lot of that kind of behavior.”
Former employees at Adidas also said Ye’s behavior was on public view when he released a 30-minute documentary on YouTube in which he showed Adidas executives porn at a company meeting.
Saying it spoke for employees who “may be fearful of speaking up”, the open letter claims the documentary showed what was “by no means a new intimidation approach”, adding that “Kanye’s problematic behavior started within the first year of his partnership with the Adidas brand”.
On Wednesday, an Adidas spokesperson told the Guardian: “Adidas does not tolerate hate speech and offensive behavior and therefore has terminated the Adidas Yeezy partnership.
“We have been and continue to be actively engaged in conversations with our employees about the events that led to our decision to end the partnership. They have our full support and as we’re working through the details of the termination, we have been clear that we want to keep our employees’ talent and skills within the organization.
“Having said this, we will not discuss private conversations, details or events that led to our decision to terminate the Adidas Yeezy partnership and decline to comment on any related speculation.”
Ye has not commented. The Guardian was not immediately able to contact him for comment.
Gap, Balenciaga and the talent agency CAA have also dropped partnerships with Ye. Twitter and Instagram have blocked his accounts.
In October, during Paris fashion week, Ye appeared at his own show wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-Shirt and in tweets said he planned to go “death con [sic] 3 on Jewish people”. He also accused Adidas and Gap of stealing his designs.
Ye has previously said pornography “destroyed” his family. Earlier this month, he wrote on Twitter: “I’m taking a 30-day cleanse. A verbal fast. No alcohol. No adult films. No intercourse.”
Adidas will sell Yeezy designs under a different name following Kanye West controversy, CFO says
Adidas says it still plans to sell Yeezy designs — just with a different name.
The shoe and apparel brand announced its intentions to keep selling Yeezy products — which were created by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West — in a quarterly earnings call Wednesday.
“I can confirm that Adidas is the sole owner of all design rights related to existing product, as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership,” Adidas Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer said during the call. “We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023.”
“Going forward we will leverage the existing inventory with the exact plans being developed as we speak,” Ohlymeyer added.
The announcement comes after Adidas said last month that it would cut ties with the rapper after he made antisemitic remarks. In an Otcober 25 press release, the company said it would “end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.”
The Germany-based company said it would be taking a loss as a result of terminating its relationship with Ye and Yeezy branded products.
Jeremy Moeller / Getty Images
“This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to 250 million euros on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.”
However, in Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call, Ohlmeyer said it would make up for those losses by continuing to sell the products without the extra costs that come with a partnership.
“We will save over 300 million euros related to royalty payments and marketing fees,” he said. “This will help us to compensate the vast majority of the top and the bottom line impact in 2023.”
Ye designed the Yeezy line in a partnership with Adidas that began in 2015 with the Boost 750 shoe. Since his antisemitic comments, the singer has been dropped by several other brands he partnered with, including GAP and Balenciaga.
On Tuesday, Adidas announced it will be led by a new CEO starting next year. The current CEO, Kasper Rorsted, will be succeeded by Puma’s Bjørn Gulden, who is credited with turning around the company and increasing its sales.