Kanye West’s alleged history of antisemitic remarks at Adidas, from drawing a swastika to praising Hitler
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kanye West is once again facing flak for his alleged remarks during his collaboration with Adidas.
As per reports, the controversial rapper made antisemitic comments but the brand continued the collaboration with the rapper until October 2022.
“The Adidas employees, thrilled to get started, had arrayed sneakers and fabric swatches on a long table near a mood board pinned with images,” the New York Times reports.
“But nothing they showed that day at the company’s German headquarters captured the vision Mr West had shared,” it read.
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Angry Kanye West drew Swastika during Adidas meeting
Many ex-employees shared that the Adidas team met with West at their headquarters in Germany to start “pitching ideas for the first shoe” but the ‘Famous’ rapper soon grew frustrated with their suggested designs.
“To convey how offensive he considered the designs, he grabbed a sketch of a shoe and took a marker to the toe,” two participants told the outlet.
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“Then he drew a swastika.” Everyone in the room was shocked, more so because they “were meeting just miles from Nuremberg, where leaders of the Third Reich were tried for crimes against humanity.”
As per sources, the rapper later “advised a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a picture of Hitler every day.”
West also reportedly told some Adidas colleagues he thought Hitler was a “master marketer” and really “admired” his “command of propaganda,” reports the New York Post.
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Adidas distances itself from Kanye
Adidas in its statement shared with NYT said, they have “no tolerance for hate speech and offensive behavior, which is why the company terminated the Adidas Yeezy partnership.”
This was in line with their 2022 press release, “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”
“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 press release says.
In one of the shocking incidents, Kanye West played a pornographic film for shocked Adidas executives during a business meeting.
The incident was recorded which involved five men, and was posted on YouTube, called “LAST WEEK.”
In 2018, he reportedly settled with a seven-figure paying to a former Yeezy chief executive after they “accused him of repeatedly praising the architect of the Holocaust.”
West even wanted to name his next album 'Hitler,' but went ahead with 'Ye,' around that time.