Kanye West is no longer a billionaire after clothing giant Adidas cut ties with the troubled rapper saying it does “not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech”.
West’s personal fortune has taken a hit, with Forbes reporting the artist is now worth $400m, down from $2bn.
West had a lucrative deal with Adidas for his Yeezy brand with even the clothing giant admitting at one time this was one of the most successful collaborations in the company’s history.
In 2020, the partnership brought in nearly $1.7bn in revenue for Adidas, according to Bloomberg, and was due to expire in 2026.
West who has in the past admitted from mental health challenges and is bipolar has had a troubled time recently. He recently donned a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt design at Paris Fashion Week.
A few days later he posted controversial antisemitic comments on his Twitter account. Both Instagram and Twitter suspended his accounts.
Twitter locked West’s account on 9 October after it removed one of his tweets that said he was going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”. The platform said it violated its policies against hate speech.
Facebook followed suit and restricted West’s Instagram account on 7 October after the rapper made an antisemitic post in which he appeared to suggest the rapper Diddy was controlled by Jewish people – an antisemitic trope.
Adidas has confirmed that his Yeezy products will now be pulled from sale and the company will make a net loss of £217m in 2022 as a result.
In a now deleted Instagram post, West had previously accused Adidas of stealing his designs.
On Tuesday Adidas issued a statement saying;
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. 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.”
