According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the chief executive and other senior leaders at Adidas had a discussion about the potential consequences of their relationship with West.
A group of Adidas employees gave a presentation to the company's executive board about the risks of interacting with West, who has legally changed his name to Ye. According to the report, the presentation included strategies to cut ties with the creator.
When these concerns were raised, Adidas executives did not sever ties, but continued to meet with Ye to try and keep the partnership, which made nearly $2 billion a year for Adidas, or 10% of its revenue. According to the report, Ye accused Adidas executives of stealing his designs and showed them a video of an adult video.
The German sportswear giant officially ended its partnership with Ye in October after the musician made a number of offensive and antisemitic comments.
The company does not tolerate hate speech. The company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness have been violated byYe's recent comments.
After an anonymous letter alleged years of abuse, Adidas decided to investigate accusations made by staff relating to Ye's conduct.
Employees told the Journal that Ye's behavior was not new. Some of them had raised concerns about Ye in the past.
Adidas said it was not clear if the accusations made in an anonymous letter were true. We have decided to launch an independent investigation of the matter to address the allegations.
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