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| Photo Credit: AP. |
American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, made series of anti-Semitic remarks on his social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram.
Now those comments
is at the center of a controversy that has drawn massive outcry making a number
of companies including Adidas to end partnership deal with the rapper.
Ye has been
suspended on both Twitter and Instagram over his inciting anti-Semitic remarks.
The decision
by the German sportswear maker would prove costly for Ye in terms of earnings
as he struggles with deteriorating endorsements and cuts in business deals.
Adidas will
also suffer as a result of the decision following its acknowledgement it would
lose up to 250 million euros ($246 million) in net income earnings this year as
it prepares to stop the production of its Yeezy products and would also stop
payments to Ye and his companies, according to The Associated Press.
On Tuesday
shares of the company tanked by over 2% following the announcement.
“Adidas does
not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said
in a statement Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “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.”
Earlier this
month Ye tweeted he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He was making reference to the U.S. defense
readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.
Following
the backlash, Ye offered an apology to “the Jewish community” in an interview
with podcaster Lex Fridman posted online on Monday, saying his initial tweet
was a mistake.