As Kanye West continues to put his foot in his mouth regarding topics of the plight of African Americans — including his inaccurate claims about George Floyd’s death; his “White Lives Matter Shirt” controversy, and his controversial statements about Jewish people — it seems his now-former business partner, Adidas, has put it’s foot down. And as a result, Kanye is reportedly no longer a billionaire, according to Forbes.
Ever since Ye claimed, in his recent Drink Champs interview, that he could give as many “Anti-Semetic” rants as he wanted to, and damn near dared Adidas to drop him…stating that “Adidas can’t drop me,” the Nazi-founded German athletic company has been catching all sorts of flack for obvious reasons.
The hashtag, #boycottadidas, was trending on Twitter recently because fans were highly pissed that Adidas was remaining pretty silent on Ye’s statements.
Listen to Kanye here: “the thing about it being Adidas I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me … now what … now what …” @adidas pic.twitter.com/Qu5LcZnmJj
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 20, 2022
Adidas Explains Why They Cut Ties With Ye
For the record, Adidas had previously simply released a statement stating their “relationship” with Kanye was “under review.”
Welp…all that’s changed now that Adidas has had to face that heat that Ye has brought to their ‘kitchen’ —including the confirmation that fans recently learned about Adidas’s original founder having supported the Nazi party back in the day.
As of today, October 25, 2022, Adidas decided to part ways with Ye, his Yeezy line, and the popularity he brought to the brand, helping to revitalize it greatly.
Via Forbes: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company declared in a press release. “After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
Here’s Kanye’s New Estimated Net Worth
According to Forbes, now that Adidas has cut ties with Kanye, his estimated net worth has dropped from
$1.1 BILLION to $400 MILLION:
Via Forbes– The $1.5 billion value of the Adidas deal was calculated off of a multiple of annual earnings. Based on interviews with industry experts, Forbes had viewed the royalties Ye received from Adidas to be similar to royalties from music catalogs or film residuals. The Adidas income stream could be sold off, those experts said, just like dozens of musicians (including the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen) have sold off their life’s work over the past two years.
Without Adidas, Ye is worth $400 million. The remainder of Ye’s fortune, Forbes estimates, comes from real estate, cash, his music catalog and a 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, Skims. (A source close to Skims told Forbes Ye hasn’t been involved with the brand since its 2019 launch.)
Overall, this is a lose-lose situation for Ye and Adidas…but clearly a necessary one, for Adidas. Hell, many would say it would’ve been great to see Adidas have this same energy years ago, when Kanye initially began divisively downplaying the struggle of his people in the media, by continuing to support Donald Trump after Trump’s divisive statements and/or actions that ultimately affected people of color. But I digress.
At any rate, this is no laughing matter…Ye – who is admittedly bipolar – seems to be going through a mental health breakdown at the moment. Hopefully, someone within his camp will soon be able to re-center him somewhat, and get him to tackle whatever inner issues he’s experiencing at this time.
