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US rapper Kanye West in March of this year with his girlfriend Chaney Jones. In the meantime, the controversial designer is in a new relationship.
Photo: Smg / dpa
Almost a year ago, Adidas ended its business relationship with its advertising icon Kanye West (46) - also known as "Ye". With its "Yeezy" shoes, the company earned good money.
But from the management's point of view, the scandalous rapper could no longer be kept after his anti-Semitic statements. Adidas "does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other kind of hate speech," the company said at the time, adding: "Ye's recent comments and actions were unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."
The dismissal of West and the discontinuation of the "Yeezy" brand cost Adidas a lot of money: 1.2 billion euros in annual sales and almost half a billion euros in operating profit were lost.
Bjørn Gulden (58), Adidas boss for nine months, now strikes a different tone in an interview, as the "Financial Times" and the British newspaper "Guardian" report.
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"I don't think he was serious about what he said": Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden surprisesin an interview with a new interpretation of Kanye West's anti-Semitic statements
Photo: IMAGO/Harry Koerber
In a Norwegian podcast broadcast on September 12, Gulden said the incident was "regrettable" because it meant that Adidas had lost the business, while at the same time the manager stressed: "I don't think he was serious about what he said." The former Puma boss says he considers "Ye" to be "one of the most creative minds in the world," adding, "I don't think he's a bad person."
Already in the summer, Adidas had begun to sell the remaining stocks of the still coveted "Yeezy" shoes – apparently with great success, because Gulden announced at the same time that the expected loss due to the dissolved business relationship would probably be smaller.
Gulden did not elaborate on West's anti-Semitic remarks in the interview. An Adidas spokesperson emphasized that the company's position had not changed and that the termination of the partnership with "Ye" was right and appropriate.
"Ye" himself regretted his remarks in a podcast interview at the time, but tweeted a picture of a swastika fused with the Star of David a few months later. Twitter, which is now called "X," then temporarily banned West from the platform. Earlier this month, the scandalous rapper caused further trouble when he showed T-shirts with the slogan "White Lives Matter" at a Yeezy fashion show in Paris.
Rei