Gap, Adidas sever partnerships with Kanye West over anti-Semitic remarks | CBC News

Clothing chain Gap Inc. said Tuesday it is taking immediate steps to remove products from its Yeezy Gap line, which was developed in collaboration with Kanye West, and has shut down YeezyGap.com following the rapper’s anti-Semitic comments.

This comes shortly after Adidas ended its partnership with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and anti-Semitic remarks, the latest company to sever ties with Ye and a decision by which the German Sportswear company said it would be the bottom line.

“Adidas does not condone anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech,” the company said on Tuesday. “Yes’ recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company values ​​of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

The company faced pressure to sever ties with Ye, with celebrities and others on social media urging Adidas to act. It announced earlier this month that it was placing its lucrative sneaker deal with the rapper-under-scrutiny.

Latest company to disconnect

Adidas said on Tuesday that it had conducted a “thorough review” and would immediately cease production of its Yeezy line and stop paying Ye and its companies. The sportswear company said it is expected to incur a loss of up to 250 million euros (Cdn 338.5 million) on its net profit this year as a result of the move.

The move, by Adidas, whose CEO Kasper Rorsted is stepping down next year, comes after Ye was suspended from Twitter and Instagram this month over anti-Semitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies.

He recently suggested slavery was a choice, calling the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other things. He was also criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt at his Yeezy collection show in Paris.

Dropped by his agent

Yes’s talent agency, CAA, dropped him, and the MRC studio announced Monday it was shelving full documentation on him.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, fashion house Balenciaga parted ways with Ye last week. JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship even though the bank busting was in the works before Ye’s anti-Semitic remarks.

In recent weeks, Ye has also ended his company’s association with Gap, telling Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with his company’s suppliers.

After being suspended from Twitter and Facebook, Ye offered to buy conservative social network Parler.

The rapper, who has won 24 Grammy Awards, has earned a reputation less for his music and more for stirring up controversy since 2016, when he was hospitalized in Los Angeles due to what his team called stress and exhaustion . It was later revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Jewish groups have warned of the danger of the rapper’s comments at a time of rising anti-Semitism. Such incidents in the US reached an all-time high last year, the Anti-Defamation League said in a letter to Adidas last week urging them to break with Ye.

Demonstrators at a Los Angeles flyover on Saturday unfurled a banner praising Ye’s anti-Semitic comments, prompting an outcry on social media as celebrities and others said they stood behind the Jews.

Jewish groups welcomed Adidas’ decision but said the move was overdue. The World Jewish Congress noted that Adidas factories “produced supplies and weapons for the Nazi regime using slave labor” during World War II.

In Germany, where Adidas is headquartered, the boss of the country’s largest Jewish conglomerate welcomed the company’s decision but said the “step was overdue”.

“I would have wished for a clear stance sooner from a German company that was also involved with the Nazi regime,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement. “Adidas has done a lot to distance itself from its past and, like many sports brands, is one of those companies that is conducting major campaigns against anti-Semitism and racism. Therefore, an earlier breakup with Kanye West would have been appropriate.”

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