The rapper and global superstar Kanye West (45), who calls himself Ye, has attracted negative attention in recent weeks due to numerous gaffes – and is now feeling the business consequences of his actions. A number of companies have turned their backs on West, who, according to Forbes, is no longer a billionaire. An overview.
Earlier in October, West wore a t-shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter” popular among US racists to the Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show, and has since made anti-Semitic posts on social media. First, Instagram then restricted West’s account, after which he shared more anti-Semitic posts on Twitter after a two-year abstinence. As a result, Twitter blocked West’s account.
In mid-October, West not only experienced a significant drop in terms of streams and radio presence of his music. On October 21, luxury fashion brand Balenciaga also ended its collaboration with the rapper. While West’s actions and lapses were not cited as a reason, the French fashion brand said it had “no plans for future projects involving this artist” beyond the end of the collaboration.
On October 24, it was announced that a documentary about West that had already been filmed would remain unreleased. Manufacturing company MRC said it would not release content that “amplified West’s platform” and explicitly condemned West’s anti-Semitic statements.
Also on October 24, Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency said West was no longer a client. Rival UTA condemned his hateful comments and called on the entire industry to boycott the musician to prevent him from being signed by another talent agency as a client. This was reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
On October 25, the German sporting goods manufacturer Adidas also ended its collaboration with West with immediate effect. “Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech. Ye’s recent statements and actions are unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
Also on October 25, the largest US clothing chain, Gap, removed all Yeezy products from its range. West and Gap ended their collaboration in September, but originally the existing product range was still to be sold. Gap said in an official statement: “Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred in any form are inexcusable […]”.
In addition, the legendary US fashion magazine “Vogue” and Johnny Depp’s (59) lawyer Camille Vasquez (38), who became famous through the trial of Amber Heard (36), are said to have ended their collaboration with West. It was not until October 21 that the US gossip portal “TMZ” reported that Vasquez was allegedly hired by West. As early as October 24, “TMZ” said that Vasquez would rule out further collaboration because of the rapper’s anti-Semitic statements.
According to Page Six, “Vogue” boss Anna Wintour (72) is said to have declared on October 21 that she no longer wanted to collaborate with West in the future. Wintour is said to have cited both the anti-Semitic comments already mentioned here and the “White Lives Matter” T-shirt worn by West as justification.
