Following an explosive report about Kanye West, Adidas will launch an investigation to figure out whether he acted inappropriately to employees.
As it was previously reported, @RollingStone shared a report that detailed allegations of misconduct against Kanye West during the time he partnered with Adidas for his Yeezy brand.
The claims by unidentified staff at Yeezy and Adidas included allegations that the musician, who has changed his name to Ye, showed an intimate picture of his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, in job interviews. The retail giant has also been accused of turning a blind eye to his “problematic behavior” and said it was overlooked by Adidas management. In a letter to Adidas obtained by the outlet, employees claimed that Adidas “turned their moral compass off” and failed to protect employees from “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks”.
“it is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true” but that it took the claims “very seriously” and had “taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations”.
Initially, the sportswear brand initially said it would not “discuss private conversations, details or events that lead to our decision to terminate the Adidas Yeezy partnership” but it had “been and continue[d] to be actively engaged in conversations with our employees about the events that led to our decision to end the partnership”.
Adidas had initially severed ties with West amid a hail of hate speech comments which ultimately got him cancelled by other brands.
The company said back in October after west shared offensive remarks,
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.
After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.
This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.
adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. More information will be given as part of the company’s upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on November 9, 2022.
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