Adidas Says Its Relationship With Kanye Is Under Review, Ye Responds
Adidas is reviewing its relationship with Kanye West, the global shoe brand said in a statement Thursday (Oct. 6). “After repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period,” the company said in a statement per CNBC.
West responded Thursday to CNBC’s story on the latest Adidas statement in a Instagram post, saying “F——– ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS.”
Adidas announced its partnership with West in 2013. In June 2016, Adidas and West announced they had extended their partnership, calling it a “Yeezy-branded entity creating footwear, apparel and accessories for all genders across street and sport,” per Yahoo Sports.
Last month, the rapper wrote on social media that he was “willing to give” Adidas “20% of net profit/sales” in a since-deleted Instagram post. Clarifying that if they were to accept this deal that this will “not [be] ownership,” but “a nonexclusive manufacturing and distribution partner.”
The artist then declared, “I love war” in the following since-deleted Instagram Story post. This is not the first time Ye has called out Adidas on social media.
In another post where he called out several Adidas executives by name, rapper also posted a headshot of Ekwan E. Rhow, one of Adidas’ attorneys. He accused Adidas of hiring Rhow to change their contract in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“I have no chill. It’s going to cost you billions to keep me. It’s going to cost you billions to let me go Adidas,” he wrote under a headshot of Rhow back in September. “You stole my f—ing designs amongst other things I’ll give you to Tuesday. I’m not waiting 7 months to leave like the breach letter I sent you refers to. It’s up now I’m going to make things unbearable. And I promise I’ve only been playing nice I know eeeeeeeverything. I promise the fake shoes y’all sold behind my back in China. Eeeeeverything.”
Additionally, last month, West’s Yeezy terminated its partnership with retailer Gap. That partnership saw Yeezy clothing sold at Gap stores and online. But West similarly claimed he wasn’t given enough control over the items, including color selection and price point.
“Yeezy notified Gap of its concerns in August and gave the company a contractually-designated 30 days to cure its breaches,” Nicholas Gravante, a lawyer for West, told CNBC at the time. Gravante said Gap took no action on the concerns, so Yeezy ended the relationship.
“He’s had a tremendous impact globally for us,” Kasper Rorsted, CEO of Adidas told CNBC in August. “Kanye is our most important partner worldwide. We have a very, very good relationship with him. We communicate with him on a very ongoing basis. And we’re very proud of that relationship.”
Kanye has been going on a controversial social media tirade for the last couple of days but Adidas has not publicly stated whether or not that has impacted their decision in reviewing their partnership.
