Kanye West Is No Longer A Billionaire
Kanye "Ye" West is no longer a billionaire now that Adidas has dropped him as a partner.
There is one less billionaire in the world, as Kanye West has literally lost a fortune. According to Forbes, the rapper and fashionista lost a contract with Adidas for his Yeezy line of sneakers, which accounted for $1.5 billion of his net worth, thus removing him from the Forbes Billionaire’s list. This comes on the heels of other financial setbacks caused by antisemitic remarks Kanye West has made on social media and in interviews.
“I can say antisemitic s— and Adidas cannot drop me,” Kanye West told the Drink Champs podcast earlier this month after shenanigans at Paris Fashion Week that included tee-shirts that said “White Lives Matter” and a social media post that hinted at violence toward Jews. These comments triggered a cascade that included the rapper being dropped by financial giant JP Morgan Chase on October 14. Numerous celebrities, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Jaden Smith, and Diddy, also decried the hate speech, soon being joined by a chorus of other public figures.
Now Adidas has joined the outcry by cutting ties with him at a significant loss to its own interests. Adidas has its own history of antisemitism as its founders had connections to the Nazi party. This checkered past put pressure on Adidas to make some kind of response, but until October 6, all the company had said publicly was that their relationship with Kanye West was under review.
It would seem that the final push for Adidas came from Nazi sympathizers in Los Angeles. They hung up a banner celebrating their antisemitism from an overpass bridge and saluted all the cars driving beneath. The banner referenced Kanye West directly, an indication of his influence over this discourse and how it has emboldened others to publicly engage in hate speech.
Adidas was very specific in saying this was the reason they ended their business relationship with Kanye West. Referring to the rapper’s recent behavior as “unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous,” the company announced in a press release that effective immediately, all production of Adidas Yeezy products was over. The popular brand is no more.
This is just the latest of many objectionable and erratic behaviors Kanye West has exhibited in recent years. He infamously stalked ex-wife Kim Kardashian after their divorce and threatened her then-boyfriend Pete Davidson. Although the pair have broken up, Kanye West has still been making public remarks about Davidson as recently as last week.
Throughout the last month, several other business connections have dropped Kanye West as a partner because of his comments and incitement to violence. Even his talent agency, CAA, has severed ties, and a documentary about him has been canceled. The falling star’s fortune has dropped down to $400 million, which is mostly real estate and royalties.
Recently, Kanye West did acquire right-wing social media site Parler after being banned from Instagram and Twitter for his antisemitic ramblings. He is not going down quietly, despite the setbacks caused by his self-induced implosion, and the fact that people are acting on the worst of his words is foreboding. Yeezy was a popular and beloved line of sneakers, and it is unfortunate that its creator killed it with vile hate speech.
