Kanye West lost two billion dollars in a single
day, he said Thursday, as business partners rushed to dump the rapper in the
wake of a series of anti-Semitic outbursts.
The music and fashion mogul has seen lucrative commercial tie-ups shelved
as companies including Adidas and Gap took fright at comments dubbed hate
speech by activists.
"I lost two billion dollars in one day. And I'm still alive. This is love
speech," West, who is also known as Ye, wrote on Instagram in a post that had
been liked over a million times.
"I still love you. God still loves you. The money is not who I am. The
people is who I am," the post said, naming Emanuel Ari, the CEO of
entertainment company Endeavor, who had urged companies to sever ties with the
rapper.
German sportswear giant Adidas said Tuesday it was ending its partnership
with West after his "unacceptable, hateful and dangerous" comments.
Adidas also said it would end production of the highly successful "Yeezy"
line designed together with West and "stop all payments to Ye and his
companies".
The move is expected to lop around a quarter of a billion dollars off
Adidas's bottom line this year alone.
West, who is open about his struggles with bipolar disorder, has long been
outspoken, having half-heartedly run for US president in 2020 and then thrown
his weight behind Donald Trump.
His willingness to go beyond the pale is a double-edged sword for business
partners, who have benefited from his high profile and his frequent media
appearances, but who risk being tarnished by association.
While they weathered previous comments, including when West called slavery
a "choice", things began to unravel this month with his appearance at a Paris
fashion show wearing a shirt emblazoned "White Lives Matter", a slogan created
as a backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Days later he was temporarily locked out of Twitter and Instagram for
threatening to "Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE", using a misspelled reference
to US military readiness.
That sparked alarm, including apparently from his ex-wife Kim Kardashian,
who wrote on social media "Hate speech is never OK or excusable," in posts
that did not name West.
Last weekend a banner was hoisted over a busy Los Angeles freeway that read
"Kanye is right about the Jews" and "Honk if you know." Several people were
photographed making "Heil Hitler" salutes.
Escorted out
Adidas's announcement was followed hours later by US company Gap, which
said it was taking "immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our
stores" in addition to shutting down YeezyGap.com.
Paris-based fashion house Balenciaga also ended ties with the rapper last
week, saying it "no longer (has) any relationship nor any plans for future
projects related to this artist".
One of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, CAA, said it was dropping West,
while film and TV producer MRC said it was shelving an already-finished
documentary about the artist.
On Wednesday, West was escorted out of the corporate offices of shoe
company Skechers in Los Angeles after showing up uninvited with a film crew,
the firm said.(AFP)
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