Artist Information Manufacturers & Merch Enterprise Information
By Chris Cooke | Printed on Friday 25 November 2022
Adidas has confirmed that it’s going to launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct which were made towards Kanye West by individuals who labored on the rapper’s long-running Yeezy three way partnership with the sportswear model.
That three way partnership was cancelled lately when West’s flurry of controversial interviews and statements made the alliance untenable, however – former staff say – Adidas bosses had been beforehand keen to show a blind eye to their famous person enterprise companion’s dangerous behaviour.
These former staff have expressed their grievances in a letter to Adidas bosses which has been seen by Rolling Stone.
In it they are saying that Adidas employees members who got here into contact with West through the Yeezy JV needed to cope with “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades and bullying assaults”, however administration – though conscious of this behaviour – “turned their ethical compass off” and ignored that conduct, as a result of, , that’s simply “Kanye being Kanye”.
Rolling Stone experiences: “Behind the scenes, [West] did greater than take a look at the boundaries of professionalism. Former Yeezy and Adidas staffers and inventive collaborators declare that he performed pornography to Yeezy employees in conferences; mentioned porn and confirmed an intimate {photograph} of Kim Kardashian in job interviews; and confirmed an specific video and photographs of Kardashian in addition to his personal intercourse tapes to Yeezy crew members”.
In the meantime, the letter from the previous staff states: “[West] has, in years previous, exploded at girls within the room with offensive remarks, and would resort to sexually disturbing references when offering design suggestions. Such a response from a model companion is one which Adidas staff ought to by no means be subjected to, nor ought to Adidas management ever tolerate”.
In response to the Monetary Occasions, in response to the Rolling Stone report, Germany’s third-largest asset supervisor, Union Funding, which has a one % shareholding in Adidas, wrote to the corporate’s administration crew demanding readability in regards to the allegations. The finance agency’s Janne Werning additionally instructed the FT: “Adidas must disclose when the administration and the supervisory board was first knowledgeable in regards to the inside allegations”.
For its half, Adidas stated in a press release yesterday: “It’s presently not clear whether or not the accusations made in an nameless letter are true. Nevertheless, we take these allegations very severely and have taken the choice to launch an impartial investigation of the matter instantly to handle the allegations”.
With the Yeezy/Adidas three way partnership already cancelled, employees on the sportswear model not must cope with West anyway. Nevertheless, this inside investigation – if it confirms the allegations made by the ex-employees – might nonetheless put stress on Adidas, which is within the strategy of getting a brand new CEO. And it’ll possible make different firms cautious of working with West, even when he manages to restore all of the injury these current controversies have achieved to his private model.
