Adidas reportedly dealt with Kanye West’s disturbing antisemitic views for nearly a decade before cutting ties with the rapper in October 2022.
According to a new report published by the New York Times Friday, the “Heartless” rapper allegedly drew a swastika during his very first meeting with the brand in 2013.
Several former employees claim the Adidas team met with West at their headquarters in Germany to start “pitching ideas for the first shoe” when the disgraced rapper became increasingly frustrated with their designs.
“The Adidas employees, thrilled to get started, had arrayed sneakers and fabric swatches on a long table near a mood board pinned with images,” the report claimed. “But nothing they showed that day at the company’s German headquarters captured the vision Mr. West had shared.”
“To convey how offensive he considered the designs, he grabbed a sketch of a shoe and took a marker to the toe,” two participants told the outlet. “Then he drew a swastika.”
The alleged choice sent shockwaves though the room, especially given the fact they “were meeting just miles from Nuremberg, where leaders of the Third Reich were tried for crimes against humanity.”
Yet the alleged incident was just the first of many antisemitic and sexually offensive comments West would allegedly make during his nearly 10-year tenure with the brand, the NYT reports.
Insiders told the outlet that a few years later, the rapper allegedly “advised a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a picture of Hitler every day.”
He also allegedly told some Adidas colleagues he thought Hitler was a “master marketer” and really “admired” his “command of propaganda.”
Then in 2018, he reportedly admitted to paying a former Yeezy chief executive a seven-figure settlement after they “accused him of repeatedly praising the architect of the Holocaust.”
As previously reported, it was around that time that he allegedly wanted to name his next album “Hitler” — he ultimately went with “Ye.”
Yet despite his alleged problematic and erratic behavior, the company continued to work with him as they saw their profit margins continue to skyrocket.
In fact, regardless of his conduct, Adidas reportedly agreed to triple the rapper’s guaranteed annual salary during contract negations in 2016.
While they did add morals clause into the contract, they didn’t invoke it until last year.
The sportswear brand severed ties with the “Gold Digger” rapper in late 2022 after he went on numerous public antisemitic rants.
Weeks prior, the company had announced that its partnership with the Yeezy fashion designer was “under review” after he repeatedly wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt.
After pulling the plug on their partnership, West’s net worth dropped by $1.1 billion.
Other companies such as Gap, Balenciaga and Vogue also terminated their partnerships with him.
In a statement shared with the NYT, Adidas said they have “no tolerance for hate speech and offensive behavior, which is why the company terminated the Adidas Yeezy partnership.”
Reps for West did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
