Adidas employees raised concerns about Ye's conduct for years, report says

The main enforcement and different elder leaders astatine Adidas discussed the imaginable fallout from its narration with Kanye West arsenic acold backmost arsenic 4 years ago, according to a study from The Wall Street Journal.

During a 2018 presumption to the Adidas enforcement board, a radical of employees reportedly outlined the risks that they faced by interacting with West, who has legally changed his sanction to Ye. The presumption included a fig of mitigation strategies that included cutting ties with the Yeezy creator, the study said.

But Adidas executives did not sever ties erstwhile these concerns were raised, and alternatively continued to conscionable with Ye to effort and clasp onto the partnership, which made astir $2 cardinal a twelvemonth for Adidas, oregon 10% of its revenue, according to Morningstar expert David Swartz. During 1 gathering successful September of this year, the study said, Ye accused Adidas executives of stealing his designs and showed them a clip of an big video.

The German sportswear elephantine officially terminated its concern with Ye successful October aft the instrumentalist made a bid of violative and antisemitic comments.

"Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and immoderate different benignant of hatred speech," the institution said successful a statement. "Ye's caller comments and actions person been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they interruption the company's values of diverseness and inclusion, communal respect and fairness."

A period later, Adidas announced that it is investigating accusations made by unit relating to Ye's behaviour aft an anonymous missive alleged years of abuse.

Ye's alleged behaviour was not new, according to employees who spoke to the Journal. Some of them had raised concerns astir Ye to leaders and quality resources astatine Adidas arsenic acold backmost arsenic 2018.

"It is presently not wide whether the accusations made successful an anonymous missive are true," Adidas said successful a connection Thursday. "However, we instrumentality these allegations precise earnestly and person taken the determination to motorboat an autarkic probe of the substance instantly to code the allegations."