Kanye West and Adidas buried the hatchet: They reached a settlement
Adidas has ended the “fight” with Kanye West due to anti-Semitic comments in 2022, which destroyed the collaboration between the sports brand and the American rapper.
At that time, Adidas withdrew the collection and began selling Kanye’s stock at wholesale prices. However, on Tuesday, the firm said it had reached a settlement with Vesta to end all legal proceedings between them.
“There are no more open questions and no money being wasted in any way. There were tensions on many issues, but both sides said we don’t need to fight anymore,” Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said during a conference call.
The drama with Kanye “belongs to the past.” No one owes anyone anything anymore. “Whatever happened is history,” he added.
Adidas (Unsplash)
Yeezy deals
The end of the partnership left Adidas with Yeezy shares worth around €1.2bn (£840m), with the sports brand selling the products in batches and donating the proceeds to NGOs, including its recently launched anti-discrimination foundation , it says BBC.
Yeezy shares will be sold by the end of 2024, the company said.
The decision to withdraw from the “fight” is the total opposite of 2022. Adidas said then that it “does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other kind of hate speech.”
“Your recent comments and actions were unacceptable and violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company added.
Adidas Yeezy (Pexels)
Success vs. antisemitic comments
Adidas and Kanye West started collaborating in 2014, which brought success to the sportswear brand.
The demand for Yeezy products did not subside even after the storm. Yeezy sneakers sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds. The rapper had his Instagram and Xu accounts suspended for anti-Semitic comments in October 2022.
He repeated those claims in numerous interviews and podcasts, not all of which aired over the next two months.
In December of that year, West appeared on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars show where he talked about his admiration for Adolf Hitler.
The rapper, who split from Kim Kardashian, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder years ago and has spoken publicly about his challenges with his mental health.
Source: BIZLife
Photo: Beta/AP, Unsplash, Pexels
Source: bizlife.rs
