Adidas boss regrets controversial comments about rapper Ye

the boss of the adidas group, which is shocked by its breakup with Kanye West Last year, he was forced to apologize after appearing to put the rapper’s anti-Semitic remarks into perspective.

Björn Gulden, head of the three-stripes brand, regretted what he described as an “erroneous statement” on his part. He shared his regret with the head of a major anti-Semitism association (ADL, Anti-Defamation League). the latter, Jonathan Greenblatt, made his apology public Thursday night in a message on X (previously Twitter), and the Adidas group confirmed the apology on Friday.

Björn Gulden came under fire after a podcast titled ‘In Good Company’ last week, in which he said Kanye West, now known as Ye, wasn’t really referring to anti-Semitic remarks he made last year.

Among other public errors, Ye wrote on Twitter in fall 2022 that he was going to attack Jews in a post that has since been deleted by the microblogging site.

This controversy led the equipment manufacturer to abruptly end its lucrative collaboration with the rapper and his “Yeezy“coaches collection.

Adidas is “totally against the abhorrent hatred expressed by Ye” last fall, Björn Gulden reaffirmed in his apology.

the Norwegian came to the head of Adidas at the beginning of the year and inherited this case, which has tarnished the reputation and finances of the group. Stopping the sale of Yeezy sneakers resulted in a loss of revenue of €1.2 billion.

“Our decision to end our partnership with Ye due to his unacceptable comments and behavior was absolutely correct,” an Adidas spokesperson said in a message sent to AFP on Friday.

“Our position has not changed: hate of any kind has no place in sport or society, and we remain determined to fight it,” the source added.

Adidas has started selling some of the Yeezy stock it pulled off the shelves. the first wave in May generated around €400 million in sales, and the results of a second operation in August will be announced later.

A part of the revenue generated, i.e. 110 million euros, went to associations fighting racism and anti-Semitism, including ADL, as previously announced by Adidas.