Kanye West no longer a billionaire after Adidas cuts ties over anti-Semitic comments
Losing his Adidas partnership proved to be a massive kick to Kanye West’s net worth.
West is no longer a billionaire after Adidas ended its relationship with the rapper Tuesday over his repeated anti-Semitic comments, according to Forbes’ latest estimates.
Forbes valued West’s deal with the German apparel company at $1.5 billion, and says his net worth without it plummets to $400 million.
Adidas said Tuesday that production on West’s “Yeezy” line of shoes and clothing has been halted “immediately” and that payments to the rapper, who uses the name Ye, have ceased.
“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other sort of hate speech,” Adidas said. “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.”
Later Tuesday, the clothing retailer Gap said it’s taking “immediate steps” to remove West’s “Yeezy” products from its stores. West and Gap ended a two-year partnership last month.
“Anti-Semitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” Gap said, announcing that it also took down the yeezygap.com website.
“On behalf of our customers, employees and shareholders, we are partnering with organizations that combat hate and discrimination.”
The latest developments come shortly after the talent agency CAA dropped West as a client and the movie studio MRC decided against releasing a completed documentary about the 24-time Grammy winner. Luxury fashion house Balenciaga, meanwhile, dropped West as a collaborator last week.
Earlier this month, West’s Instagram account was restricted and his Twitter account was locked over posts deemed anti-Semitic, including one in which he threatened to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”
West generated outrage as well by claiming on the Revolt TV show “Drink Champs” that George Floyd died from the drug fentanyl, among other controversial comments.
“On TMZ, I just saw yesterday, they said, ‘Pete Davidson and Kim [Kardashian] have sex by the fireplace to honor their grandmother.’ It’s Jewish Zionists that’s about that life, that’s telling this Christian woman that has four Black children to put that out as a message in the media,” West said on the show.
West married Kardashian in 2014 and has four kids with the reality star. She filed for divorce last year, and on Monday posted a tweet condemning hate speech.
“Hate speech is never OK or excusable,” Kardashian tweeted. “I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”
West also garnered backlash for wearing a shirt reading “white lives matter” during Paris Fashion Week in early October.
Adidas faced public pressure to end its relationship with West, with the Anti-Defamation League urging the company to reconsider the partnership.
“We hope that more companies, individuals, and political leaders will take action to show that there will be consequences for such hateful rhetoric and that they do not give Ye’s anti-Semitism a pass,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, said in a letter last week.
Following his issues with Instagram and Twitter, West announced an agreement to acquire the conservative social media platform Parler.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” West said last week.
