The controversial rapper and entrepreneur is said to have been noticed for a long time due to blatant misconduct.
(Photo: Reuters)
Munich Adidas is examining new allegations in connection with the now-stopped partnership with controversial US rapper Kanye West. In an anonymous letter, the allegation was made that managers at the sporting goods company knew about West’s misconduct in recent years but did not react.
The letter is said to have come from employees on the Yeezy collaboration team between Adidas and West. Investors are now demanding clarification.
Rolling Stone reported that West had been behaving inappropriately internally for years, particularly towards women. He also showed pornography and intimate photos of his then-wife Kim Kardashian at meetings and treated employees badly. In the letter, Adidas representatives are now accused of a lack of a moral compass because they knew about the misconduct but did not intervene.
Adidas said on Thursday: “It is currently unclear whether the allegations made in an anonymous letter are true.” They take the allegations very seriously and have therefore “made the decision to immediately launch an independent investigation into the matter to address the allegations.” follow up accordingly”.
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Adidas ended the long, very profitable cooperation with West, who now simply calls himself “Ye”, after the US rapper made anti-Semitic statements. West’s statements and actions are “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous”.
Union Investment wants answers from Adidas
The break with the artist and businessman only came after massive international protests. Other companies like Gap had reacted faster than Adidas and had already ended their collaboration with West. The rapper had previously noticed gaffes.
In view of the new allegations, important investors are now also increasing the pressure. “Adidas must disclose when the Executive Board and Supervisory Board were first informed of the internal allegations,” demanded Janne Werning from Union Investment. The Financial Times also reported on this. It is also unclear how West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, herself an entrepreneur with assets estimated by “Forbes” to be around one billion dollars, will behave in the cause.
The cooperation has brought Adidas a lot of money – now it is bad for business.
(Photo: AP)
The second largest sporting goods company in the world had released shoes under the Yeezy brand, which had been developed together with West. At times, West accused the group of copying the design of the shoes he designed and using it for its own Adidas models.
The multimillionaire had repeatedly provoked radical statements in recent years. He recently appeared at Paris Fashion Week with right-wing black influencer Candace Owens. Both wore sweaters with the inscription “White Lives Matter” – a conscious distinction from “Black Lives Matter”.
In an interview with the ultra-conservative Fox News, the musician then blamed the black singer Lizzo for “the genocide of the black race”. Finally, the anti-Semitic threat of targeting “Jewish people” in “Death con 3” led to him being temporarily blocked on Twitter, for example. “Defcon 3,” to which he alludes, is an elevated alert status code used by the US military.
According to Kanye West, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness in which those affected fluctuate between euphoric and depressive states.
Adidas is paying dearly for the separation. In good times, the group had made sales of well over a billion euros with the products. The end of the cooperation will reduce profits by 250 million euros this year alone. This is another reason why Adidas had to lower its forecast for the current year again.
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