New Delhi: American rapper Kanye West recently made anti-semitic posts on social media leading to many brands including Adidas, talent agency CAA, film and television programming company MRC and luxury fashion label Balenciaga, severing ties with him.
The rapper has now responded to being dropped by a number of partnerships. He took to Instagram and wrote, “Ari Emanuel. I lost 2 billion dollars in one day. And I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The people is who I am.”
The post comes days after Ariel Zev (Ari) Emanuel, CEO of the entertainment and media agency Endeavor, urged companies to stop doing business with West.
Entertainment industry figures, including Emanuel and the Gersh Agency’s Bob Gersh, urged companies that work with West to cut ties with the rapper, according to ‘Variety’.
Kim Kardashian, West’s ex-wife, also issued a short statement via Twitter, writing: “Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”
Earlier, Adidas had estimated that terminating the Yeezy partnership will negatively impact Adidas’s net income in 2022 by 250 million euros, although the company added it expects the dip to be short-lived.
West and the sports company first joined forces for a fashion collaboration — known as Adidas Yeezy — seven years ago.
Kanye had posted on social media that, among other things, he planned to go “death con 3 on Jewish people”.
This was followed by an appearance on Revolt TV’s “Drink Champs” talk show, where he went on an anti-Semitic tirade. Following West’s comments, a banner was hung by a white supremacist group above the 405 freeway in Los Angeles reading “Kanye is right about the Jews”.
(With inputs from IANS)
