Adidas on Tuesday announced it has cut ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in the wake of his antisemitic comments.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement quoted by NBC News. “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.”
The German athletic brand said the decision to terminate its partnership with Ye “immediately” came after a “thorough review.”
Gap, which announced in September it was ending its Yeezy Gap partnership, said in a statement Tuesday, “We are taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores and we have shut down YeezyGap.com.”
“Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” the company added. “On behalf of our customers, employees and shareholders, we are partnering with organizations that combat hate and discrimination.”
Adidas, which began its partnership with Ye in 2013, said it will end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently called on Adidas to drop its partnership with West over the rapper and fashion designer’s antisemitic statements.
West, who now calls himself Ye, said during a recent interview that the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain were signed because former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, wanted to "make money" from the deal.
He later threatened to go "death con 3 on the Jews" in an apparent antisemitic Twitter rant. Ye followed this up by claiming that he can't be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew."
The comments were condemned by a host of public figures. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the comments and said, “Antisemitism is the longest hatred in history. It goes back thousands of years. We’ve dealt with bigger problems than these stupidities.”
“The communists blamed the Jews for being capitalists. The capitalists blamed the Jews for being communists. You have a problem, blame the Jews. It is old stuff, it shouldn’t have a place in civilized discourse,” Netanyahu added.
Adidas’ move comes a day after the Creative Artists Agency cut ties with West, confirming it had dropped him as a client.