Campaign Against Antisemitism Praises Adidas' Move to Cut Ties With Kanye

A group campaigning against antisemitism that spearheaded the campaign for Adidas to dump Kanye West has celebrated the company's announcement it had done so.

Adidas saw its stock price plummet as it faced pressure to cut ties with the rapper — who legally changed his name to Ye last year — after a string of controversial incidents, a number of which were targeted at the Jewish community.

The sportswear company today confirmed to Newsweek it had ended its partnership with West, which saw him make billions for the company since 2015 through his Yeezy line of sneakers and clothes.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism launched a petition to put pressure on Adidas to end its relationship with West, which had the support of big-name celebrities such as Friends star, David Schwimmer.

"This would not have happened without the almost 175,000 who signed our petition and the celebrities and influencers on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world who helped promote it and amplified the message," a spokesperson for the campaign told Newsweek.

The group also said Adidas' Nazi history meant it had a greater responsibility to stamp out antisemitism. The company was founded by Nazi party members, brothers Rudolf and Adolf "Adi" Dassler, who also supplied footwear to party members during World War II.

"A company with a Nazi past must be at the forefront, not the rearguard, of fighting antisemitism. But better late than never. No company should profit from antisemitism," the spokesperson said.

The group also told Newsweek how it felt as Jewish people to hear West's ongoing attacks.

"Jewish people worldwide were appalled by his antisemitic statements and frightened by the vile acts of antisemitism that followed from racist groups who felt empowered to attack Jews," the spokesperson said.

"As for Ye, who has spent the last two weeks threatening Jews and empowering neo-Nazis, he said that he could say antisemitic things yet Adidas could not drop him and asked 'now what?' Now he knows."

West had bragged on the October 16 episode of the Drink Champs podcast that Adidas could not drop him after his original antisemitic remarks.

The rapper had originally written on Twitter that he would go "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," and that he "actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

Those tweets were deleted but he backed up the comments just days later on the podcast.

"The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they can't drop me. I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can't drop me. Now what?," West said.

Two days later, West made more antisemitic comments on NewsNation's Cuomo, where he said during his appearance that, "Jewish people own the Black voice."

Then on Friday, he spoke to Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show where he said he "absolutely" did not regret his comments.

Morgan told him he "should be" sorry. "When you insult the Jewish people and say you're 'going death con 3 on the Jewish people,' that is as racist as anything you say you've been through and any pain that you've experienced," he told the rapper.

"It's the same thing. Racism is racism and you know that."

Adidas told Newsweek it had ended its partnership with "immediate effect," including the end of production of "Yeezy branded products and [stopping] all payments to Ye and his companies."

The statement said Adidas "does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

Other recent controversies involving West saw him wear a 'White Lives Matter" t-shirt during the Yeezy show at Paris Fashion Week in September. Black Lives Matter campaigners slammed it as a stunt that trivialized their cause.