Billboard was unable to verify the statistics cited by Kanye West at the
time of publication. In the past week, West has been dropped by his CAA
representatives, lost partnerships with Adidas, The Gap, and Balenciaga, had
his Essentials playlist removed from Apple Music, had his merchandise
removed from the shelves at TJ Maxx, and had his relationship with Foot
Locker severed. Ye is rumoured to have lost his billionaire status as a
result of the termination of the Adidas contract, which is estimated to cost
the firm $246 million this year.
As a result of Ye saying on a now-deleted episode of the Drink Champs
podcast that "the problem about it being Adidas is, it's Adidas," the
athletic brand declared earlier this month that its partnership with the
musician was "under review."
I mean, I can genuinely say antisemitic things and they won't let me go.
Adidas couldn't fire me since I can say anti-Semitic things. What's next?
The Adidas team then declared that enough was enough after several weeks of
interviews in which Ye frequently made disparaging remarks about Jews and
after provoking outrage with the "White Lives Matter" shirts he exhibited at
Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
He was rudely escorted out of the Skechers office on Tuesday (Oct. 26) after
showing up "uninvited," which came at the same time that his wax figure was
taken out of Madame Tussauds London and his Donda Academy basketball team
was disqualified from a tournament due to his hate speech. These incidents
dealt further blows to the once-respected rapper's deteriorating public
image.
Two of the well-known players West signed with his Donda Sports marketing
company also cut relations, expressing their opposition to West's continuous
exaggeration of anti-Jewish stereotypes. West's spokesperson was not
available to comment on his Instagram post as of publication time, according
to Billboard.
Nearly every aspect of West's once-dominant music and fashion empire has
condemned him for his recent behaviour, including his longstanding label
Universal Music, publisher Sony, and longtime engineer Andrew Dawson, who
has promised to donate his income to Jewish charities.
In an earlier post on Tuesday that featured a phoney article from a
fictional news organisation (whose offensive name Billboard will not print)
It stated, "Ye has reportedly cut relations with Kanye West," accompanied
with the phrase "Had to cut ties bro," in which he appeared to be mocking
the collapse of his economic empire.
The rapid retaliation has decimated Ye's war fund, which Forbes now pegs at
a still-impressive $400 million; Ye had claimed it was closer to $3.3
billion; the multi-year Adidas deal alone was reputedly worth about $1.5
billion. What's left of Kanye West's financial empire, according to the
financial magazine, consists of "real estate, cash, his music library, and a
5% investment in his ex-wife Kim Kardashian's shapewear company, Skims."
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