PORTLAND, Ore. — After weeks of facing pressure Adidas has finally cut ties with Ye — formally known as Kanye West — after he made anti-Semitic remarks on social media and in several interviews.
The company decided to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately as of Tuesday after a thorough review. Adidas also ended production of Yeezy branded products and stopped all payments to Ye and his companies.
The company said this in a statement:
"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."
A spokesperson for the company added that they'll lose $250 million through the end of the year.
Doug Lowell a retired advertising executive and former advertising professor at Portland State University said Adidas is “throwing away a two billion dollar a year business unit.”
Lowell also said Adidas did the right thing even though it took about two weeks for the company to make a decision on Ye’s future.
“People criticized them because it took 15 days after the comments for Adidas to drop him,” said Lowell.
Even Adidas’ own employees have been critical. One of the members of the marketing team said this on social media:
“As a member of the Jewish community I can no longer stay silent on behalf of the brand that employs me. Not saying anything is saying everything.”
Lowell says there will be people wo may have already put the company behind them, but others will probably come back to the brand.