This umpteenth provocation this time risks costing him dearly ! After shocking the world a few days ago with an anti-Semitic tweet, the rapper Kanye West (whose Instagram and Twitter accounts were suspended in the process) just learned that some of his most successful collaborations were going to end immediately.
And especially the one spent since 2014 with Adidas, which had developed the ultra-popular brand Yeezy with the rapper. “Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech“, justified the German group in a press release announcing the “immediate endof the partnership with Ye, the name by which Kanye West is now known.
A strong gesture for the German group, attacked for the slowness of its reaction, and which risks “a negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022” according to its leaders, who had seen a marked refresh in their relationship with Kanye West in recent weeks, after the rapper’s many escapades.
It must be said that for several months, this one leads to controversy : after harassing his ex-wife Kim Kardashian (mother of his four children North, 9, Saint, 7, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3) for months, even partly causing her to break up with comedian Pete Davidson, he used the slogan “White Lives Matter” on the sidelines of the Balenciaga show during the last Fashion Week. A phrase hijacked by the American far right from the anti-racist slogan Black Lives Matter, which denounced the murders of blacks by the police in the United States.
Brands and personalities against him
Balenciaga, incidentally, also announced the end of its collaboration with the rapper. On Monday, the CAA agency representing Kanye West, one of the most important in Hollywood, indicated that they were ending their collaboration. The production company MRC, for its part, canceled a documentary that had already been completed on the rapper. “We cannot support any content that expands its audience“, said the company, quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
Other show business personalities, including Ari Emanuel, president of Endeavor, another California agency, called on all companies collaborating with the rapper to do the same. “Those who continue to do business with Kanye West give his misguided hatred an audience“, wrote Ari Emanuel in the Financial Times. “There should be zero tolerance anywhere for Kanye West’s anti-Semitism.“
And all of show business seems to agree with him: since the weekend, many American stars have published a message explaining their support for the Jewssome even saying “disappointed to have to come to the point of publishing such an obvious message“. Kim Kardashian, meanwhile, posted a rather clear message on her Instagram and Twitter accounts: “Hate speech is never acceptable or excusable“, she wrote without naming her ex-husband.