Monday 28 November 2022 04:53 PM Adidas top execs discussed risk of staff's direct exposure to Kanye West 'years ... trends now
Adidas held talks about the supposed risks that came with maintaining its professional relationship with Kanye West years ago, it has been revealed - long before the rapper's recent anti-Semitic remarks.
In a 2018 presentation to members of the Adidas executive board including CEO Kasper Rorsted, executives discussed spinning off West's Yeezy brand or even buying it outright to distance themselves from the mercurial performer.
The discussion reportedly highlighted the risks facing staffers forced to interact with West, and even detailed strategies the company would undergo if it was forced to cut ties with its outspoken designer.
The revelation comes days after the sneaker giant said it would investigate workplace complaints that West, 45, showed members of the Yeezy team explicit images of his then-wife Kim Kardashian and discussed porn openly at work.
West, meanwhile, is in the midst of a massive public row after disparaging Jewish people online last month, causing him him lose lucrative partnerships with Adidas and a host of other companies, and more than a billion dollars from his net worth.
The Jesus Walks performer, however, has seemed to largely disregard the controversy - announcing plans to run for president in 2024 shortly before being spotted with notorious alt-right white supremacist Nick Fuentes, 24.
He has refused to walk back remarks that included complaints that a 'Jewish underground media mafia' is ruining his career.
It now seems staffers were well aware of the chances their relationship with West could go haywire, according to the recent report from The Wall Street Journal.
The new report comes just weeks after Adidas terminated its relationship with Kanye West amid the furor created by the rapper's repeated anti-Semitic remarks
In a 2018 presentation to members of the Adidas executive board including CEO Kasper Rorsted, executives discussed spinning off West's Yeezy brand or even buying it outright to distance themselves from the mercurial performer
The Journal's report, which was based on insider accounts and internal documents reviewed by the paper, recounted how executives flagged these risk to Rorsted, who stepped down as CEO last month, and other board members in October of 2018.
At the meeting - and reportedly at others since then - executives also raised concerns about how West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, treated workers at the company.
Those concerns, the Journal reported, came after brass received complaints about West regarding interactions with staff, which spurred them to launch an in-depth review of the Yeezy partnership months before.
The fruits of that probe were presented to the board at that October meeting, and saw the high-powered group discern that West was, indeed, a 'risk.'
Citing internal company documents, the Journal reported that after executives determined staff's 'direct exposure' to West as a risk and even suggested rotating key staff to lessen the chances of a problematic situation.
Also proposed during the meeting were potential maneuvers to limit West's exposure to the rest of the company, including running Yeezy as a standalone brand or buying the Yeezy trademark outright, The Journal reported.
Under that deal, which had not been previously reported, West licensed the trademark to Adidas for a 15 percent share of the sneaker firm's yearly sales.
The revelation comes days after the sneaker giant said it would investigate workplace complaints that West, 45, showed members of the Yeezy team explicit images of his then-wife Kim Kardashian and discussed porn openly at work
The meeting came shortly after West generated a wave controversy by declaring that Africans and African-Americans made 'a choice' to be enslaved in prior centuries to TMZ.
Meanwhile, in the months before and since, staffer complaints about the rapper's polarizing personality and outspokenness has been rife, current and former staff told The Journal.
Speaking to the publication this week, sources revealed that both Adidas staffers and executives have been raising concerns for years about West, and how he sometimes reprimanded Adidas staff in front of their colleagues.
Additional grievances, the Journal reported, were that the rapper would regularly make anti-Semitic comments, and ever watched pornography at work - the latter of which HR was alerted to in 2018, current and former workers told The Journal.
The paper's bombshell report comes just days after the Germany-based company announced it was engaging in an open investigations regarding allegations
