That talking too much has a price is known from Toni Cantó to John Galliano, who was fired by Dior for the same reason that Kanye West has lost one of his main sponsors. Adidas cut ties with the American leisure magnate and former Kim Kardashian, with whom they produced the Yeeze line, over hateful statements that the German firm considers intolerable. “Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other type of incitement to hatred,” it said in a statement at the end of last October, thus ending the business in common with West, who now calls himself Ye.
At that time, the company calculated the losses at around 250 million euros at the end of 2022 but now we have learned that the figure is much higher: almost 600 million according to Front Office Sports. It is the first time Adidas has recorded a loss in 30 years.
In early October 2022, West appeared wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, which he had previously criticized. He was in Paris during a Yeezy show. The insult is more complicated than the obvious since that name is also that of a neo-Nazi motto. Days later he posted a tweet threatening to “death the Jewish people with 3,” a pun on defcon, the term used in imminent war danger. And on the 17th of that month, in an interview with Chris Cuomo, he talked about the “underground Jewish media mafia.” As if that were not enough, in late 2022, in an appearance on the far-right web show InfoWars, he made comments praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, as well as denying the existence of the Holocaust.
“Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company’s values ??of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” Adidas said in its statement. “After a thorough review, the company has made the decision to immediately end the association with Ye, terminate production of Yeezy-branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.” Front Office Sports has calculated that the break could lead to losses of close to 1,200 million euros throughout 2023 as it cannot sell the stock already manufactured and because Yeezy represented 7% of the company’s total business volume.
