Kanye West’s Adidas partnership is now under review after the rapper wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in public.
In a statement, Adidas said “after repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.”
Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye, has had a fairly rough relationship with the apparel maker in recent weeks. Not too long ago, West expressed dissatisfaction with how some of his Adidas shoes turned out. Additionally, in a recent, now-deleted Instagram post, West wrote: “F*CK ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS.”
Adidas has been in a partnership with Kanye West since 2013. Prior to that, Kanye West had been in a partnership with Nike. Back in 2016, Adidas expanded its relationship with West, stating that it was “the most significant partnership ever created between a non-athlete and an athletic brand.”
However, that significant relationship seems to be under intense strain after Kanye West wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and had several black models in clothing with the same phrase during his YZY runway show at Paris fashion week.
West defended using the slogan and told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that “‘I though the shirt was a funny shirt, the idea of me wearing it was funny, and I said why do you think it’s funny? And he said just a black man stating the obvious’,” referencing his father.
Carlson asked West why people consider him wearing the shirt a controversial statement, to which West replied: “Because the same people that have stripped us of our identity and labeled us as a color, have told us what it means to be black.”
Hey, thanks for reading DZSH! Check out our newsletter too so you can always stay in the loop!
