Is Kanye West being canceled? It looks so. Just hours after GAP made a new statement saying the company will immediately begin removing Kanye’s Yeezy products from its stores and online website, Foot Locker has just announced that it is also doing the same.
The retail giant has instructed all of its stores to remove all pairs of Yeezys from their sales floors, according to an email sent to employees, which was viewed by Footwear News. Per the email, employees have been asked to keep all Yeezy shoes in the backroom until they are given further direction.
Foot Locker has also confirmed this move in an official statement to the outlet: “Foot Locker, Inc. does not tolerate any form of antisemitism, or hateful and discriminatory behavior,” the company said in a statement. “While we remain a partner with adidas and carry a wide assortment of their collections — we will not be supporting any future Yeezy product drops, and we have instructed our retail operators to pull any existing product from our shelves and digital sites.”
This latest news also comes after adidas announced earlier this morning that it has terminated its partnership with the designer and rapper. In a statement made this morning, the company said: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company explained. “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.”
What Did Ye Do To Cause All Of This?
It all started at his YZYSZN9 Paris Fashion Week show, where he wore a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter,” which the Anti-Defamation League has identified as hate speech and has been adopted by white supremacists. During an interview on Drink Champs to talk about his bold move, he made the statement that George Floyd died from fentanyl instead a cop who kneeled on his neck for nine minutes.
In addition to that, he also made antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews shortly after, including a post on Twitter that said he would go “death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.”
Following his comments, Instagram and Twitter suspended Ye’s accounts. Since then, many other major companies have parted ways with Ye.
What Has Kanye Said?
The entertainer has not yet released a statement regarding all the headlines about him. However, following backlash, he did apologize for hurting people with his comments. However, he said he did not regret what he said.
“I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with the ‘Death Con’ — the confusion that I caused,” he said on Sunday (Oct. 8).
“I feel like I caused hurt and confusion. And I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through and that I used my platform, where you say hurt people hurt people, and I was hurt.“
He continued in an interview with Tucker Carlson saying, “I gotta let go of that and free myself of the trauma and say, ‘look, I’m just gonna give it all up to God right now,’” he continued, “and say to those families that I hurt, I really wanna give you guys a big hug and I’m sorry for hurting you with my comments.”