German footwear brand Adidas cut ties with Kanye West in October 2022 after executives got sick tired of the rapper’s erratic behavior.
For more than a decade, Kanye West had one of the most lucrative celebrity-fashion partnerships ever with Adidas, generating sales of more than $1 billion a year.
But the German sportswear brand eventually cut ties with Ye in October 2022 after a series of public antisemitic tirades and offensive posts that caused him to be blocked from his social media accounts.
Adidas had tolerated Kanye West’s behavior during the partnership until October 2022 when they eventually axed him for good.
The New York Times reported on the incidents when Kanye’s behavior raised eyebrows.
During the first meeting between Kanye and Adidas, the rapper was unhappy with the shoe designs and fabric samples presented.
Kanye drew a swastika (an emblem of the German Nazi party) on one of them to express his displeasure, according to two unnamed participants who spoke to the Times.
Adidas is based in Germany, where most depictions of Nazi symbols are illegal and considered highly offensive.
In another detail of his troubling antisemitic behavior, Kanye West told one Jewish manager at the company to kiss a picture of Hitler every day.
The investigation concluded that the profits generated from sales of Yeezy merchandise allowed Adidas executives to tolerate Kanye West’s erratic and offensive behavior.
After initially planning to burn its remaining Yeezy stock, Adidas instead decided to sell the sneakers and use the profits to make substantial donations to causes combatting antisemitism and other forms of racism. The company has not specified what proportion of the profits will be donated.
Related: Adidas rakes in Ksh61 billion from sale of Kanye West’s sneakers after cutting off the rapper
