Adidas, a major manufacturer of athletic apparel, is under pressure to take action against Kanye West for his anti-Semitic remarks.
A video of the rapper from the hit song “Stronger” boasting that he can accomplish anything has surfaced amid mounting criticism of his anti-Semitic rants towards Jews.
West is heard saying the following in the brief video clip from the Drink Champs hip-hop podcast’s episode from October 16: “Even if I say things that are anti-Semitic, Adidas won’t fire me. What’s next? What’s next?”
Since then, the podcast has been removed.
Since the video went viral, there have been calls for the German sportswear giant to sever ties with West.
Since October 21, when the video was posted, the hashtag “Boycott Adidas” has been on the rise on Twitter.
Online, a petition on change.org has amassed more than 108,000 signatures, and numerous well-known people have weighed in on the issue.
The online petition stated, “We, the undersigned, call on Adidas to terminate its partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, due to his recurrent anti-Semitic rants.”
Adidas would be saying that it does not care about racism against Jews if it remained associated with a popular figure who has come out as a nasty anti-Semite.
Adidas announced on October 7 that it would reconsider its Yeezy collaboration with West after the rapper sparked outrage by showing up to a Paris Fashion Week show wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt.
In a statement at the time, Adidas said, “We will continue to compare the current product during this period.
David Schwimmer and other actors, including Kat Dennings, have posted to Adidas, with Dennings writing: “The world is watching, Adidas.”
“Thousands of signatures, and @adidas has yet to respond? Your silence endangers Jews, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote on Twitter.
“We must all demand Adidas #RunAwayFromHate by denouncing Ye’s racist remarks and reassessing their collaboration because we cannot let his anti-Semitism to become mainstream.”
Thousands of signatures, and still no word, @adidas? Your silence is a danger to Jews. We can't let Ye's #antisemitism become normalized – we all need to demand Adidas #RunAwayFromHate by condemning his racist rhetoric & re-evaluating their partnership: https://t.co/2kRkXRgck1 pic.twitter.com/k2zkbC3SjN
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 24, 2022
The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has also pushed Adidas to sever its ties to Kanye West.
In view of Kanye West’s increasingly overt anti-Semitism in recent weeks, the group said in a statement, “We were dismayed to see that Adidas planned to continue releasing new products from his Yeezy brand without any clear acknowledgment of the uproar surrounding his most recent remarks.”
“We implore Adidas to reconsider its sponsorship for the Ye product line and to make it abundantly clear that the Adidas organisation and community have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism,” they wrote.
The Kardashian family has likewise largely remained silent.
Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s ex-wife, is coming under increasing online pressure to respond to his remarks.
However, Khloe Kardashian is the first member of her family to openly acknowledge Kanye West’s anti-Semitism and the scandal that followed.
The 51-year-old Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld, issued a statement that read, “I support my Jewish friends and the Jewish people,” which the 38-year-old retweeted.
As of this writing, Adidas has not responded to any of the online petitions or calls.
Pavan Manzoor is an experienced content writer , editor and social media handler along with a track record of youth-oriented activities in Pakistan and abroad. She was selected as a fully-funded delegate as a leadership fellow in Turkey. She also led a team of 5 volunteers at the week-long Young Professionals Fellowship in Maldives. She is also a member of the Youth Standing Committee on Higher Education.
