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Summary

Kanye West Dared Adidas To Drop Him For 'Antisemitic Sh*t' & They Finally Did It

"Adidas can't drop me," he said.

Interim Deputy Editor (News)

Kanye West basically dared Adidas last week to drop him for all the "antisemitic sh*t" he’s been saying lately, and the brand just called him on it.

Adidas announced early Tuesday that it has terminated its partnership with Ye after he repeatedly doubled down on antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media and in interviews over the last few weeks. The move is expected to cost Adidas roughly €250 million (US $246 million) this year alone, the company said.

"Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech," the brand said in a statement. "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."

Anti-hate groups and many people online have been calling for Adidas to cut ties with the rapper for several days.

Things really came to a head last week, when a video circulated online of West basically daring Adidas to punish him for his comments.

"The thing about it being Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic sh*t and they can't drop me," he said.

"The longer Adidas is silent on Ye's antisemitism, the more his racist rhetoric becomes normalized," the Anti-Defamation League tweeted on Monday, before Adidas' announcement.

Kanye has become a radioactive figure in recent weeks, dating back to his Paris Fashion Week show where he wore a "White Lives Matter" shirt. Followers and celebs widely criticized him for it, and he responded by attacking them and then lashing out with various conspiracy theory-inspired claims about Hollywood and Jewish people.

At one point he declared that he would go "death con 3 on Jewish people."

Instagram and Twitter locked his accounts over his posts and he then declared that he would buy Parler, the conservative Twitter-style platform, as a new avenue for expressing himself.

Balenciaga cut ties with West last week and his talent agency, CAA, dropped him on Monday. The studio MRC also announced that it would not release a fully completed documentary about him.

West's ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, also joined other celebs in denouncing antisemitism on Monday, though she didn't mention Kanye by name.

"Hate speech is never OK or excusable," she wrote.

"I stand with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end."

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    • Interim Deputy Editor, News

      Josh Elliott (he/him) was the Interim Deputy Editor (News) for Narcity, where he led the talented editorial team's local news content. Josh previously led Narcity’s international coverage and he spent several years as a writer for CTV and Global News in the past. He earned his English degree from York University and his MA in journalism from Western University. Superhero content is his kryptonite.

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