Kanye West has defined most of his career with smash hits and a healthy dose
of spectacle and theatrics, helping to redefine the modern concept of celebrity
along the way. For a long time, those disruptions were largely welcomed in the
music and fashion industries as he cut new creative paths.
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But the rapper and designer, who now goes by Ye, has
been at the center of several controversies in recent years after increasingly
erratic behavior.
In the past 12 months, he has been burning bridges
in the music industry where he made his name. He was disinvited from performing
at the Grammy Awards last spring, and abruptly withdrew from headlining this
year’s Coachella festival.
In October, his behavior began to have an impact on
the more lucrative corner of his empire — fashion — as he came under fire for
making a series of antisemitic remarks, including accusing Jews of a
“Holocaust” against Black Americans, and wearing a shirt with a slogan
associated with white supremacists.
The fallout across industries has been swift.
At
Paris Fashion Week, Ye’s shirt takes center stage
September
15: In mid-September, Ye notified Gap that he was terminating their
much anticipated partnership and said that he would move ahead with plans to
open his own stores. Gap said in a statement that their visions were “not
aligned.”
October 3: A little more than two weeks later, Ye
held a surprise, off-schedule show at
Paris Fashion Week to present his latest
fashion collection under his label YZY, formerly known as Yeezy.
Ye began his presentation with a rambling speech in
which he complained about his critics. But his own wardrobe choice overshadowed
his other designs: Ye wore an oversize shirt with “White Lives Matter” on the
back. The Anti-Defamation League has called the phrase hate speech and
attributed its origin to white supremacists, who began using it in 2015 in
response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The shirt later appeared as part of the collection
and Candace Owens, the conservative commentator, accompanied him and was
wearing one, too.
Ye
is restricted by Instagram and Twitter
October
7–9: Ye suggested on Instagram that Sean Combs, the rapper known as
Diddy, was being controlled by Jewish people. Ye’s account was restricted by
Instagram that day.
A day later, he lashed out against Jewish people in
a series of tweets. Ye tweeted that he would soon go “death con 3 On JEWISH
PEOPLE,” a reference to the US’ defense readiness condition, known as DEFCON.
The tweet was removed by the company, and Ye’s
Twitter account was locked for violating the platform’s policies. The
restrictions on Twitter and Instagram mean that Ye’s account is still active,
but that the rapper cannot post for an undisclosed period.
The social media comments put his relationships with
fashion companies in jeopardy. Adidas, the German sneaker giant whose
collaboration with Yeezy was estimated to be worth billions, said it had it had
placed the relationship under “review”.
A week later,
Balenciaga, the fashion house that had
partnered with Ye in his Yeezy Gap project and opened its runway show in Paris
with an appearance by him, deleted pictures and videos of him from the show.
Vogue Runway did the same, and Vogue magazine said it would no longer work with
Ye.
Ye’s
conspiratorial language heats up
October 15: During an interview on the podcast “Drink Champs,” Ye falsely said George Floyd
died from fentanyl use, not from a Minneapolis police officer’s kneeling on
Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. He also repeatedly accused “Jewish
media” and “Jewish Zionists” for feeding a paparazzi frenzy and canceling his
shows.
October 17: The
parent company of Parler, a social media platform known for its right-wing
audience, said Ye would acquire the site for an undisclosed sum. George Farmer,
the CEO of Parler’s parent company, Parlement Technologies, is married to
Owens, the conservative commentator, who had appeared at Ye’s fashion week
event.
The corporate fallout builds
October 21–26: Kerring, Balenciaga’s parent company, told Women’s Wear Daily that “Balenciaga
has no longer any relationship nor plans for any future projects related to
this artist.” Creative Artists Agency, one of the world’s major booking
agencies, no longer represents the entertainer. Film and television studio MRC
announced that it was shelving a completed documentary about Ye.
But the biggest and
most anticipated breakup was between Ye and Adidas. On October 25, after weeks
of pressure, Adidas announced that it would cut ties with Ye after a nearly
decadelong partnership, a move the sports apparel giant said would cost it 250
million euros ($246 million) this year. Forbes reported that the partnership
accounted for $1.5 billion of Ye’s net worth and, without it, he would lose his
billionaire status.
Despite Ye’s “just
awful” comments, Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, told Reuters that it would not
remove the rapper’s music from the platform because his music did not violate
Spotify’s anti-hate policies.
The empire continues to crumble
October 25–27: Ye’s
enterprises beyond fashion also faced pushback. Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles
Rams and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics said on Twitter that they were
cutting ties with Donda Sports, Ye’s marketing agency, because of the
antisemitic remarks.
On October 26, the
organizers of two prominent high school boys’ basketball tournaments revoked
invitations for Ye’s Donda Academy team to play in national showcases this
season. Ye founded Donda Academy last year in Simi Valley, California. The
private school is named after Ye’s mother, Donda West, who died in 2007. The
school is not accredited and was built around online learning.
The same day, footwear company Skechers said Ye had been
escorted from its corporate offices in Los Angeles after an “unannounced and
uninvited” visit.
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