The music mogul, also known as Ye, has seen his lucrative business deals in the fashion industry crumble with the likes of Gap and Adidas who distanced themselves after the comments that activists and part of the public opinion described as hate speech.
What did Kanye West say after losing his contracts?
“I lost $2 billion in one day. And I’m still alive. This is love speech,” West wrote in an Instagram post that received more than a million likes.
“I still love you. God still loves you. Money is not who I am. People are who I am,” he added in white letters on a black background.
The post mentions Emanuel Ari, the CEO of entertainment company Endeavor, who has urged several firms to cut ties with the rapper.
Sportswear giant Adidas ended its business relationship with West on Tuesday following his “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” comments.
Adidas said it would end production of the hit “Yeezy” line, designed with West, and stop “all payments to Ye and his companies.”
The decision should cost Adidas around $250 million this year alone.
Kanye West revealed that he is bipolar
West, who has been outspoken about his struggles with bipolar disorder, has made headlines for his public statements, such as his 2020 presidential campaign bid, in which he ended up endorsing Donald Trump.
His insistence on crossing boundaries is a double-edged sword for his business partners who benefited from his popularity and media appearances but now risk being tarnished by his association.
While they resisted earlier comments, such as when West called slavery “an option,” things started to take a turn for the worse this month when he appeared at a Paris fashion show wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “White Lives Matter.” (in English, “White Lives Matter”).
The phrase is a reaction by far-right and white supremacist groups in the United States to the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which protests against racism.
Kanye West’s anti-Semitic phrase
He was later temporarily suspended from Instagram and Twitter for a threatening post against the Jewish community using a misspelled reference to military codes.
This set off alarms, even from his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. “I support the Jewish community and urge an end to the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric against them,” the celebrity wrote without mentioning the father of her children.
Over the weekend a banner was placed on a Los Angeles freeway reading “Kanye is right about the Jews” and “Blow the bugle if you know.”
Some activists were photographed giving the “Heil Hitler” salute.
Adidas’s announcement on Tuesday was followed by US-based Gap, which said it would act immediately “to remove Yeezy Gap products from our stores” as well as shut down the YeezyGap.com website.
West and Gap had announced in September that this collaboration would end, but Gap had said it would launch several products that were in the development phase.
Fashion house Balenciaga last week broke off its collaboration with West, saying it “had no other relationship or plans for future projects with this artist.”
On Monday, CAA, one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, severed its working relationship with West, and film and television production company MRC said it would shelve a finished documentary about him.
Skechers reported on Wednesday that West was “escorted” out of its facility by two of its executives in Los Angeles, arriving uninvited and with recording equipment.
Source: Ambito
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